The Cold War was won by one side only. And the losing side, like every other in history, had its countryside scorched, its gold plundered, its men forced to dig ditches in foreign countries, its women conscripted to service to the victor’s ends
This is obviously a huge exaggeration but it is unwise to ignore the effect of such a defeat even though no bullets were fired. The country at the end of the communist era was bankrupt due to the arms race. The government collapsed and the federation fell apart. After a decade of chaos a strong popular leader emerged and the reorganisation commenced. There are some similarities with interwar Germany but Putin is clearly no sort of Hitler. But he should be observed.
Stuart Austin 