Here's another view of what that butterfly's torso looks like: the main drag in Croatia's southernmost town. Dubrovnik is about as far north as Detroit, Michigan, but has a Mediterranean climate. It was once the capital of the Republic of Dubrovnik (Ragusa in Italian), the smallest of the Maritime republics that also included Pisa, Genoa and Venice. As its own nation it took great pride in its independence and the rights of its citizens and had all sorts of checks and balances to keep a tyrant from seizing power. It was one of the first countries to recognize those 1776 upstarts who eventually became the disUnited States of America. United, it managed to be relatively free for four centuries by playing the major powers such as Venice and the Ottomans against each other. Will our republic last as long?
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