“As big and as dangerous as they made themselves, they were revealed as posers in the end”
Rome eventually fell, too. Doesn’t mean their centuries of hegemony weren’t real. The Soviet Union half-dominated world politics for 45 years. Former satellites, especially China, are still kicking. Can’t take that away from them.
“The Soviet Union half-dominated world politics for 45 years. Former satellites, especially China, are still kicking. Can’t take that away from them.”
True, but neither can one “take away” the 100-million plus people who died under Communist regimes in the twentieth century, most of them subjects of the Soviet Union, the PRC, Cuba, Cambodia, North Vietnam, North Korea and other such regimes. I for one find it difficult to respect the power of any nation whose achievements - no matter how impressive - are built upon the corpses of countless, nameless victims.