Because it wasn't difficult to see, even as a kid. I'm from Finland, which was the USSR's favorite capitalist country. I went to the only school where everyone

Because it wasn't difficult to see, even as a kid. I'm from Finland, which was the USSR's favorite capitalist country. I went to the only school where everyone took Russian as the first foreign language. The Soviets had plenty of reasons to show us their best side, and they sure did try. We did school trips to the USSR before it fell, but as middle class kids, we could also travel around the West. The thing is, no matter what imperialistic BS the Soviets and the Americans did, the Americans at least had the reality on their side. It was the little things that revealed it. Little things such as which countries had very favorable black market exchange rates for the currencies of the other side. Or where you could make money by smuggling everyday goods.