Exploding countries

The fact that the country's motto has to appear in four languages should have been a tip off. But it seems the long-simmering battle between the Walloons and the Flemings is about to explode. Yes, pretty little Belgium with it's cobbled streets, yummy waffles, and 500 types of beer--Belgium, that state de Gaulle claimed had been invented by the British to annoy the French, is about to disintegrate. Poof, it's gone in the blink of an eye--like the USSR, like Yugoslavia. And what's really bizarre about this is that Belgium, sweet, misty Belgium, home of Godiva chocolate, is the damn seat of the damn European Union--and as everyone in Europe is expected to sign their common constitution, Belgium explodes. Can a free and independent Scotland be far behind? Will Quebec finally break off from Canada and go its own Frenchified way? I don't think this bodes well for the European Union, about which I have always had mixed emotions. And if Brussels is the capital city of the European Union, in what country is Brussels located? Well, actually, with the Dutch-speaking and the French-Speaking regions already almost completely autonomous, that makes Brussels a federal state, like Texas was but without the hot sauce. If worse comes to worse, we, like Ethiopians after the separation of Eritrea, have to redraw our maps and learn to live with it. But I will miss the Belgiums, and their uniquely finicky approach to life. What about Belgium lace? Belgium chocolate? Marvin Gaye? What does Marvin Gaye have to do with Belgium? Well, did you know that Marvin Gaye wrote Sexual Healing after having stayed in Ostend, Belgium?