Yeah! That is amazing. I think we owe it to one man...

Gorbachev.

He unilaterally bowed out of it, and let Eastern Europe, the Ukraine, and the Russian people go free to determine their own destiny.

They have not handled it as well as they might have (in some cases), but at least we didn't all get fried in a nuclear exchange.

With a less imaginative man than Gorbachev in Moscow in the mid to late 80's, there's a very good chance we would have been. Bankrupt empires will usually fight rather than peacefully dismantle themselves, and go quietly off into that good night.

What if he had acted like the old men in China? There would have been war, bloody war, and maybe world war.

As for the profiteers, they have found other ways to keep making money since....

And the game goes on.

SINSULL - good point about the Roman leaders!

- LH