30 years after the Berlin Wall fell, some former Soviet-controlled countries are dismantling democracy. What happened?
The Berlin Wall — both a powerful symbol and a physical barrier that divided the communist East and the democratic West after 1961 — came down 30 years ago this week. Footage of young Germans hammering away at the hated wall dividing communist and Western Europe, then dancing triumphantly at the Brandenburg Gate, were just some of the stirring images of that seemingly miraculous year.
Communism collapsed first in Eastern Europe in 1989-1990 and then in the Soviet Union in 1991.
In short order, the Soviet Union dissolved, as did Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Germany reunified. Governments throughout the region held free elections.… Seguir leyendo »