When people talk about the Balkans, the first though is; A corner of East Europe .

Traditional American concepts about how East-West rivalry should turn out are challenged by a visit to the Balkans, that murky and mountainous corner of southeast Europe whose volatile ethnic mix touched off World War I.

Americans tend to think of Yugoslavia as a feisty, independent country whose break with the Soviet Union in 1948 ignited economic development and led to the most spontaneous life style in Eastern Europe.

They think of Bulgaria as a backward and static vassal state of the Soviet Union.

And, they see Romania as the most independent and clever of the Warsaw Pact members because of its individualistic foreign policy.

But none of these images is entirely true today.

Here are some more stereotypes about Former Yugoslavians. These are the most common stereotypes there on West Balkans.

Montenegrins: Lazy people with big mustaches which live in high mountains.

Bosnians: Not so much intelligent working class people. Bosnian Muslims are fun and welcoming, but simple and not so bright.

Slovenians: Nice, civilized, simple and modest people. But some people use to say that they are cheap, cowards but good business people (similar to the Jew stereotypes)

Croats: Always wanting to be like Slovenians but never succeed and always end up like the Serbs. The Croats are cultured, but backstabbing

Serbs: People which think that everything around them is theirs and that the world revolves around them. They are brave, but suck at fighting wars

Macedonians: Simple people who love music, but they are always stealing Greek history.

Kosovo Albanians are bakery workers or criminals.