Word: sovietized
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...though Ukraine was on a track that would eventually allow it to catch up with its neighbors to the west. Although it is lagging behind former communist states to its west like Poland and the Czech Republic, Ukraine is still better off, relative to most of the former Soviet republics. According to Freedom House’s annual ranking, it is the freest of these states, excluding the Baltic countries, and its close ties with Europe suggest that it has the potential to someday join NATO and even...
There is a long history of Chinese officials censoring the comments of U.S. presidents. In 1984 when President Ronald Reagan gave a speech in Beijing, state-run China Central Television cut portions that referred to the Soviet Union, religion and democracy. During Obama's inaugural speech in January, China's state television cut away when the president referred to previous American generations that had faced down communism. The line that followed was also edited from television broadcasts and from transcripts on many Chinese news portals: "To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent...
...think the [China miracle] story is getting harder and harder to believe," Chanos said on CNBC in September. "You have to keep in mind that the last command economy that really saw this kind of growth was the old Soviet Union and what happened was the misallocation of resources into inefficient plants, dams that burst, nuclear plants that had accidents and so on and so forth, as well as the fairly large defense budget," he said. "China's heading the same...
Even disregarding Russian policies, the political divide between West and East has barely decreased since 1989. Ukraine is the only non-NATO country to be rated “free” in Freedom House’s most recent analysis of the former Soviet Socialist Republics, and even democratic Ukraine is the focus of Russian attempts to influence its presidential election in January. Although Western brand names are making inroads in many of these countries, opening stores and making goods available that would have been unheard of in communist days, democratic elections and free speech are often still lacking...
There is no doubt that 1989 was a miraculous year. The countries of Eastern Europe that the Soviet Union had held under tight political control, under threat of military invasion, broke free of this yoke, and many went on to join NATO and the European Union. But as we celebrate the anniversary of the fall of communism in Central Europe, we should remember that not every country behind the Iron Curtain followed the path of those that have successfully entered the fold of Western Europe. Joyous Berliners broke down their wall 20 years ago today—but with Russia?...