The WYTP and TrashFuture folks like to joke about old Soviet officials covering themselves in medals, but its worth noting how much the ideas of public service and personal achievement dominated the minds of Soviet citizens.
The simple idea of doing something well and sharing it with the world is almost alien to modern Westerners.
the right-wing coups of 1989 were an unmitigated disaster for the world
Khrushchev tries to put Stalinism behind and launch a Peace Offensive globally.
The West responds with 30 years of corruption, sabotage, and terrorism, culminating in fascist regimes pockmarking over half the world.
Then the USSR collapses under its own weight, and Westerners are left with a thousand little Eichmenns feuding over the boundaries of their own little fiefs. Just feels like we're on the cusp of a new Dark Age.
