Drab as a fool, aloof as a bard

People can get in trouble for confusing a continent with a country, but actually neither term is particularly well defined. The continental borders of Europe, for instance, are often debated, and even the idea of Europe being a continent is contested by some. It has come to my attention, though, that I myself have made a mistake regarding the status of Europe, or at least the EU, a concept close to my heart (even if the implementation of the concept can at times fall short). It was six months ago in this very blog that I listed “Ambassadors” as one of the characteristics “that makes the EU different from a country”, but I have since learnt that this is not strictly true. Somehow, the EU has managed to convince its member states that it needed diplomatic relations with at least two (other?) countries. To confuse things slightly, there are also ambassadorial level relations with the similarly structured African Union (although not yet with the Union of South American Nations) as well as with the higher level UN. This has all led me to start thinking about what makes a country, and, perhaps dangerously, whether the Lisbon Treaty turns the EU into one (assuming it isn’t already).

Sadly all good things must come to an end, and if you tried accessing this blog at its old address this year, you would see that “The Esuna Networks project finished on the 31st December, 2008.” It was that project that provided me with my first hosting, and I am greatly indebted to it for granting me a home on the web for so long. With its demise, I have had to migrate to pastures new, and have found myself here at MTV Europe (no, not that MTV Europe) where my blog is free to continue, at least for now. I feel I do have to say, though, how much I will miss the excellent friendly service of Esuna, for which I never had to pay a cent, and that I hope the admin goes on to even greater projects and is duly rewarded. We were given plenty of warning about the closing of the service, and so for a while I had been researching alternatives before selecting this one, and I have been very happy with it for the few months I’ve been using it.