Originally Posted by
Big Ben
The Soviet troops left Romania in 1958 so we were for the most part of out communist period "unoccupied". The Romanian communist government was bad enough on its own and didn't need Soviet assistance to keep the population under its boots. We were at odds with the Soviets quite often. We didn't take part in the invasion of Czechoslovakia and we got along (officially) quite well with the West for a decade or so. Then our beloved leader got in love with North Korea (another color in the rainbow of communist madness) and we went that way. For the last part I think we could have taught the soviets how the madness of Communism is being done. On the other hand, on the other side of the border, in Hungary, with all the soviet troops, things were somewhat lighter. They still had a little economic freedom, like little private shops. It doesn't sound like much but on this side of the border that was seen as quite exotic. And then you have Yugoslavia that just told the Soviet Union to **** off. There was some variety in the non-soviet communist states. I think you were allowed to do your own thing as long you stayed undemocratic and oppressive enough. The Soviet states had to do it the soviet way. They had to participate in the invasion of Czechoslovakia or Afghanistan. They had to participate in the clean-up of Chernobyl. And they probably didn't have the freedom to host an F1 Grand Prix. Anyway... sorry for the off topic.
I hope it will rain because otherwise I predict for Sunday afternoon a nap.