To me the Cold War is very real, perhaps because my family was involved in various ways and, towards the end, I was, too. The news of the great men and women of that fight dying comes with very special sadness and also with many conflicting thoughts. Vaclav Havel, for instance, was a great symbol of that struggle against Communism but as a politician he did not live up to that and so one see-saws between various opinions.
I have tried to sum it all up on Your Freedom and Ours (though the posting starts with the death of Kim Jong-il). I may get beaten up (figuratively speaking).
Thanks, Helen.
Please forgive me for commenting here, but I couldn’t figure out how to leave a comment on your blog.
Havel (and not only he among the Czechs, but certainly he) distinguished himself in recent years by unambiguously opposing the communist regime in Cuba. He deserved more credit for doing this than he received or will likely receive.
That is very true, Jonathan. I ought to have mentioned that. It is a little unusual for Europeans of the kind Havel was associating with and all the more admirable.
With Havel I think of Alexander Dubcek. In 1968 the world wondered whether the Soviets would invade4 Czechoslovakia and murder him
They did one but not the other, though there is strong indication that something quite nasty was done to him. But the invasion was predictable from an early stage.