I must admit, Mick, that though I meant to keep both possibilities open, I finished up lurching to one rather than the other. I realise with hindsight that it looks quite bad. Many apologies.

Sharon, that's my point. In some countries, what followed communism turned out, almost incredibly, to be even worse. What they've got now are capitalist economies fuelled by rampant and divisive greed, and probably as much corruption as ever. Nobody likes to be ruled with an iron fist, but the alternatives can be worse (cf what followed Tito's Yugoslavia).

As for respecting other people's beliefs, I regard this as a bit of a mindless mantra. The catholic church doesn't do it, and neither do I. For instance I cannot respect people who believe that blacks are inferior to whites, nor that homosexuality is an evil, nor that the moon is made of green cheese.