[GSlob]

Lay off Havel. A commie would have attempted a Milosevic-style bloodbath, not a "velvet divorce".
Czechs, Poles, Hungarians and Balts are simply returning to the Western Civ [and Ukraine is trying to come there]. After decades [3.5 centuries for Ukraine] of sitting up to one's ears in "communality" or "Russity" shit [see my earlier FRmail for the terms] the smell is not that easy to wash off - it could be expected to linger. The state apparatus of a contemporary state is a large one, and to completely purge it from the commies would have required mass importation of Western civil servants, for almost everybody who is both socially active and above certain age would have one's roots in the old apparatus. There were only so many (or so few) anti-communist dissidents, like Havel - not enough to staff a state.

[struwwelpeter]

Uvazhaemiy prepodavatel', you've already taken me to the woodshed over Havel... I wouldn't dare impugn his integrity again!

[BringBackMyHUAC]

My response is already contained in post #4. I'm not talking about purging every single person who worked for the Communists, because that would (by definition) be everybody to one extent or another. I'm simply saying that the Communist elite need to be completely purged once and for all. What percentage of the population would such a purge represent?...Surely a fraction of one percent, no???

[BringBackMyHUAC]

I mean C'mon, Gslob. You lived under Communism once. Wouldn't you like to see some of these inhuman scum brought to justice?