Czech person here, I have to agree. During the soviet era my country, a pre-WWII (even post-WWII, as the Czech part of Czechoslovakia has only seen very light f

Czech person here, I have to agree. During the soviet era my country, a pre-WWII (even post-WWII, as the Czech part of Czechoslovakia has only seen very light fighting) industrial powerhouse, was reduced to an underdeveloped dwarf. Thirty years later I'm living in a modern country, typing on a MacBook, receiving healthcare, paying my taxes with corruption only noticeable at the highest levels of the hierarchy (politicians, union leaders), certainly not throughout the country. I believe this has to do with the proximity of other developed and modern countries, economically, but also culturally. To put it bluntly, nobody wants to do business with a bunch of cavemen.