Eastern Europe is a geographical label and a cultural label.
The geographic label refers to the part of Europe that is roughly East of the Alps, though it doesn’t include the Scandinavian Countries.
The cultural label currently de-facto refers to the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. That’s mostly what this article is concerned with.
The designation is actually quite useful, because many Westerners (Western Europeans and North Americans) do tend to think of Eastern Europe as separate. This sentiment is shared by Eastern Europeans.A)
More to be written later.