It was a huge strategic mistake after the fall of communism not to use the opportunity to expose the crimes of the regime, and to remove the important people from power, just like it was done with Nazis.
You can’t just go in an remove important people from power.
That would have needed a military invasion at a time where it wasn’t clear who controls which nuclear weapons.
The Cold War ended with economical victory of the West, and memetic victory of the Soviets.
I think you overstate that case. A lot of former Soviet countries like Poland aren’t pro-Russian. Poland has 38 million citizens while Slovakia has 5.5.
I’m aware of Slovakia’s origin, having visited Czechoslovakia. I’m not sure where I implied anything different.
Sorry for being pedantic.
(why the downvote, whoever? Was it belief I was lying about visiting Czechoslovakia? Believe it or not, the country did exist under that name during my lifetime. Was it suspicion of my being sarcastic in my apology? I was not.)
You can’t just go in an remove important people from power. That would have needed a military invasion at a time where it wasn’t clear who controls which nuclear weapons.
I think you overstate that case. A lot of former Soviet countries like Poland aren’t pro-Russian. Poland has 38 million citizens while Slovakia has 5.5.
Given Russian/Polish history, if communist propaganda were strong enough to make Poland pro-Russia, the communists would have taken over the world.
Poland was Eastern-bloc, yes. It was not a part of the Soviet Union since WW2 wound down.
The same is true of Slovakia. It was part of Czechoslovakia.
I use Soviet country to mean, a country which political structure is build on Soviets as opposed to a representative democracy.
I’m aware of Slovakia’s origin, having visited Czechoslovakia. I’m not sure where I implied anything different.
Sorry for being pedantic.
(why the downvote, whoever? Was it belief I was lying about visiting Czechoslovakia? Believe it or not, the country did exist under that name during my lifetime. Was it suspicion of my being sarcastic in my apology? I was not.)