Bruce Sterling on the Balkans:
The Balkans are the Graveyard of Empires. Organized ways of life that make perfect sense elsewhere, they don't seem to get much traction here.
There's plenty of raw human vitality. Every once in a while, you get a strong hint that if the variegated Balkan peoples could overcome their conundrums, and stay out of trouble for just a little while, they'd accomplish something amazing.
Then you stroll off for a look around town, nice autumn day, and, whoa, just across the river, a large, impressive fire is blackly gushing toxic smoke... The sky is full of ravens... Another day in paradise. New World Disorder, that's the same-old same-old, 'round here.
Sterling is one of the few contemporary writers who's keenly, deliciously aware of living in The Future.
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