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I am sure that if you asked the French, they would tell you with the same sincerity that the English are keeping them down and do not let them breathe.
This was common discourse during the end times of Soviet Union too. The Russians complained that they are feeding the non-Russians, the non-Russians cried that the Russians are sucking their blood. All were persuaded that if only they became "independent", all their problems would be solved and they would live like in Hollywood movie.
As history shows, things happened otherwise.
Go ahead, play Yugoslavian games and win Yugoslavian prizes. The world can always enjoy some more exciting war footage and cool atrocity videos.
On the other hand, Czechia and Slovokia seem to have done OK with their split.
I've never seen any evidence the Czech's and Slovak's hated each other, though. It was a marriage of post-WWI convenience that they both happily agreed to break, because there was no greater heritage to fight over, and the two groups seemed equal. OTOH, the Wallonians and Flemish seemingly despise one another, because they both feel ownership of what can be described as Belgium or whatever. Funny how there's probably thousands of descendants of Flemish and Walloon immigrants from 200 years ago who in the US are married, friends, and neighbors, and don't give a crap about any of that.
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