Sorry - a couple of things I forgot to mention.

Lepus:

"The word "nation" is commony used to describe communities of people, united by various characteristics, regardless of whether they have a state or not."

In my home town, we used to think that way until the age of about eleven - except we called them gangs. Tended to disappear once we got to High School and found ourselves playing in the same rugby team, and sitting in class beside the same sets of guys we'd spent the previous few years knocking lumps out of and getting lumps knocked out of ourselves. The form of nation you seem to hold so dear is exactly the same - narrow, destructive and disruptive.

For Bobert - should he venture into this thread - You have just seen your "Battle of Baghdad" played out in miniature.