i think the problem you really have is that counterfactual conditionals are tautologies. all i've said is that the cold war did in fact happen, and it had an ef

i think the problem you really have is that counterfactual conditionals are tautologies. all i've said is that the cold war did in fact happen, and it had an effect on every communist state. maybe if there was no cold war (a counterfactual), things would've been different. it's unfalsifiable like every counterfactual because you can't change history. big deal, everyone knows that and they give counterfactuals their appropriate weight. but what's the alternative? pretend the cold war didn't happen? it's also counterfactual reasoning to critique the communist countries without acknowledging that war was being waged against them. but, the cold war did happen. that's just a fact.