East/West Explanation

The country designation "East" (as used on this website) refers primarily to ex-Soviet Union or 'Eastern Bloc' countries and includes former Yugoslavian countries + Albania, & Turkey as well as other countries "East" of Europe (see below for further details):
The country designation "West" (as used on this website) includes all pre-2004 EU / EEC European countries + Switzerland, as well as other countries 'West' of Europe (see below for further details).

PLEASE NOTE
To try to clarify the difficulty between which European (and other) countries are "East" or "West" and because some people want more specific details:
"East" therefore includes Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldavia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine,and those countries even further 'East' of Europe, mostly in mainland Asia, the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent, South-East Asia, and Indonesia; and we also include nearly all the African countries.
"West" includes all pre-2004 EU & EEC countries: e.g. Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Spain, UK and Switzerland; plus USA & Canada; all Caribbean, Central and South American countries, and South Africa, as well as China, Japan, Australia & New Zealand, and all Pacific island states.

[N.B.: Some of these geographically 'further-off' countries - irrespective of whether they are 'East' or 'West' -  irrespective of their economies - have had to be included in the "West" list because of the additional postage costs: sorry about that! We really hope that we haven't offended anyone, been geo-politically incorrect, or indeed left anyone out. But, if you think we have got it wrong: please contact us]