[jltsiren]

The West / East divide is fundamentally a European concept, because it has existed there in one way or another for almost 2000 years. The West is associated with Germanic peoples / languages, Catholic / Protestant churches, West Roman Empire, capitalism during the Cold War, EU / NATO, and Europe. The East is associated with Slavic peoples / languages, Orthodox churches / Islam, East Roman Empire / Ottoman Empire, communism during the Cold War, Russia, and Asia. The more boxes you tick, the more strongly you are in that camp. Countries far away from Europe are only Western or Eastern by extrapolation.

(In a similar way, the Europe / Asia / Africa divide is fundamentally a Mediterranean concept. The farther away from the Mediterranean you go, the less sense it will make.)