this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
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NonCredibleDefense
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... have you spoken to any Eastern Europeans from the former Warsaw Pact? Like, personally?
Yeah. A number of migrants to the US fleeing the downturn.
I've spoken to a few, and their opinion has been, to a man, overwhelmingly negative towards the old Soviet-supported societies. Economic and health data supports their opinion that the Warsaw Pact era was significantly worse for their countries than the modern day.
Then you're talking to a rarefied group of people. Possibly just the circle you run in.
I'm friends with a couple of engineers and other techies out of Poland and Belarus. They were educated out there and started their careers in the mid-90s, when the economy went into freefall. They did not consider what became of those countries an improvement, and that's before guys like Duda and Lukashenko took office.
Admittedly, I also know a Russian guy who is absolutely ride-or-die for Putin. Loves him. Thinks he saved Russia from collapse. But he's also a big Trump guy who thinks Joe Biden is a communist, so...
'Rarefied'
You sure about that?
This doesn't seem to square with the Orban, Duda, and Iohannis regimes, as they are all fiercely anti-democratic.
Hell, it doesn't square with the current Italian government or with the rising tide of German fascists.
Ah, so you're just ignoring the evidence. Wish I could say I was surprised. We're done here.
I'm presenting ample countervailing evidence.