Compare and contrast in order to catch up

By Edward Lucas - 17.11.2005 / 00:00 CET

Reading the latest annual survey from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) of the progress of the ex-captive nations in economics and institution-building, I wondered about an ideal world where the engineers are Czechs, the chefs Hungarian, the soldiers Polish, the bureaucrats Estonian and the musicians Russian. And in a nightmare world, the bureaucrats are Russian, the soldiers Czechs, the chefs Estonian and so on. Such jokes are a good way to make friends - and lose them. No country likes to dwell on its weak points (and I should say quickly, before my inbox starts bursting with protests that I have had many delicious meals in Tallinn, know some very brave Czechs and highly efficient Russians).

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