Boundaries.

The boundaries of Central and Eastern Europe have been redrawn many times over the years. One result of this is many pockets of ethnic groups now isolated from their former homelands. It's quite possible that pressure will come to redraw some boundaries again to reunite national populations. This has already happened with tragic consequences in the former Yugoslavia.

One of the biggest redrawings could come in Romania. Roughly one third of the country used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is now home to huge numbers of Hungarians. Hungary might want this area, called Transylvania, returned to it.

There is a large Turkish minority in an area of Bulgaria known as Kurzali. In the past, many of them were persecuted and their culture suppressed by the Bulgarian government. As many as 100,000 ethnic Turks have already left Bulgaria to settle in Turkey.

Serbia seems bent on crushing the Albanians who live in the former Yugoslav republic of Kosovo. Meanwhile, southern Albanians are nervous about their Greek neighbours to the south. At the end of the Balkan War of 1913, Albania was given a chunk of land the Greeks believe to be a part of northern Greece. The government in Athens has championed the cause of the Greek minority in southern Albania whose rights, it says, are violated.

One leader of the Greek community in Albania was recently quoted in the New York Times as saying: "If there is injustice, people here are very proud. Wars can begin with little confrontations. Albania should be very careful in treating this minority."

The former Soviet republic of Moldavia (now called Moldova) has been discussing reunion with Romania. Moldavians are ethnic Romanians and there have been many clashes with Russian, Ukrainian, and other minorities in the country. The break-away Trans-Dniester Republic has been set up on the east side of the Dniester River.