I do not know much about China. If the Tibetans have fared badly, what about the people who speak Turkish-like languages? Is it that they have no figure who appeals as much to the people in the U.S. Or are they seen as Arabs, who now figure so negatively in our imagination?
One more point: if we allow states to disintegrate into mini-states, does that not increase the power of the multinationals.
Finally, Brad De Long suggests that countries like Greece did not go communist because the Red Army stopped short of their border. Greece was the opening blow of the cold war. Didn't the CIA cut its teeth there? They might not have had a General Secretary, but their colonels were not particularly great democrats.
If you look at the boundaries between the East Bloc and the West Bloc, the western countries teneded to divide (Germany, Koreas, Vietnam) and/or become dictatorships, like Greece -- except for Finland.
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu