What is Europe?

The Economist surprises me quite often, this time it was a nice article about the meaning of Europe and misuse of this term. I especially enjoyed following paragraph:

So “Europe” means nothing geopolitically. Nor does it make sense in internal politics. The Belarus autocracy is “un-European”? Hang on: Belarus is the historic core of the late lamented Grand Duchy of Lithuania, once the largest state in Europe, an early modern superpower that was multicultural and multi-confessional before its time. Calling Belarus “un-European” is like calling Virginia “un-American”.

Not bad, eh? :D This picture is created by Kasia Schtirliz.