-- DRR ---
Me: Yugoslavia was not a Third World country. Yugoslavia had a high standard of living, and it also had open borders. Yugoslavs used to go on weekend vacations to Austria.
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2.
>When I visit Poland, I often tell the folks there that every Pole should
>go on a pilgrimage to Moscow at least once in his life time to express
>his gratitude for all the good things the Soviets did for that country.
>
>Wojtek
Me:
I can imagine this doesn't go over well with Polish nationalists.
One reason Russia let the USSR go, as a matter of fact, is that people were wondering why they were sending so much money to Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova etc., living poorer themselves as a result, and not getting any gratitude in return. The 'Stans were generally very much against the breakup of the Union however, for pretty obvious historical reasons
It is an irony of history that the disintegration of the USSR, which the Moldovan, Ukrainian, Georgian etc. nationalists were so in favor of, deprived those countries of the Russian subsidies they were dependent on. They used to live much better than the Russians, and now they live much worse. I read a particularly gloating article in the Russian press about this a while ago. "Enjoy your freedom!"
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