Goldenstate_rose, an clear majority of the citizens of the eastern block counties professed to be good communists because they had to. I think that we would do well to look at the results of the efforts former communist politicians rather than their past. Being a former professed communist politician is surely a black mark that calls for caution but it’s not a scarlet letter. A person in a communist country could not be successful all if they didn’t at least pay lip service to the powers that ruled in those times. It is like modern people judging George Washington as irredeemably evil because he owned slaves in a time when 90% of the wealthy people own slaves. Perspective is called for in these situations.
Hmm if you lived in today’s Russia, you would speak differently.
At this point I only find Poland to be the most trustworthy ally in Europe: they are pro-sovereignty, pro-America, but anti-Kremlin.
Hungary/Czech Republic is motivated equally by communist nostalgia as they are by anti-migrant sentiments.
And that Zeman was a communist and Drahos was not during crucial “Prague Spring” era.
I don’t know much about Drahos other than the same things being said about him were said about French Pres Macron and Macron is not turning out to be so bad. (Whereas I am confident LePen have been a disaster.)