My personal experience tells me that the differences between the East and West are more complementary rather than contradictory.

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On top of that, there are persistent wide differences between pockets of poverty in the old East Germany and the booming South-West of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg, 20 years after unification.

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There are significant differences between its operations and alliances in the south and the east of the country.

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The North East Somerset MP added although there were significant differences between the parties, there were agreements on basic philosophy.

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Mr Adams said there were "similarities" between the Northern Ireland peace process and the Middle East, but "there are also significant differences".

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