Illustration by Peter Schrank  EVERY unhappy family is, as
Tolstoy said, unhappy in its own way. The same goes for rows
within the European Union. And, as with any extended family, you
need to know your history to understand why minor rows turn into
nasty fights. Behind each stand-off lies years of accrued
grudges and slights.  Right now the air is filled with talk of
divisions between long-standing EU members and more recent
arrivals from the ex-communist block. There is both less and
more to this fighting rhetoric than at first appears. As the
economic crisis deepens, the European ship is “rocking”, and
“they're going to start throwing the weaker passengers
overboard,” Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, thundered
recently. Mr Tusk is so concerned about solidarity that he has
invited eight other ex-communist countries to a pre-summit
meeting on March 1st, hours before all 27 EU heads of government
assemble in Brussels.  Certainly, east-west divisions yawn wide
right now. Ask east European ministers what t