> Life for the masses of the people is generally the same no matter who rules them. Dead wrong. Countries that the Soviet Union occupied in WW2 are a great exa

> Life for the masses of the people is generally the same no matter who rules them. Dead wrong. Countries that the Soviet Union occupied in WW2 are a great example of that. They were near or at parity with Western Europe in 1930s, but after 50 years of Soviet occupation, they barely exceeded pre-occupation levels in main economic metrics by the late 1980s. After the Soviet Union collapsed, countries like Lithuania have seen their GDP per capita increase by 10x, approaching Western European levels that they had before. The Russian rule was a sickness that held them back, robbing several generations of economic development and prosperity. I'd rather die in a trench than experience the same Russian-imposed despair, hopelessness and utter poverty what my parents went through.