In the early eighties, in the depths of their period of stagnation, the USSR overcame an American technological embargo to start up their natural gas exports to Europe. By the end of the decade, CIA reports said that they had nearly overcome the gap in computer technology that had been such an enormous problem. Soviet-Aligned forces and states had been established in Africa, in Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Somalia, with significant Socialist movements gaining ground in Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Vietnam was seeing real success with the Doi Moi reforms, making it no longer dependent on Soviet aid. Most significantly, the anti-Soviet Gang of Four had been ousted in China, and Deng Xiaoping was taking steps to normalize relations with the USSR, presaging a potential end to the Sino-Soviet split.

If Gorbachev didn't fuck everything up, the world might look very different today.