I was born in one of those countries. I actually lived under communism — probably the best version of it in Europe and even that “better” and more open version sucked ass hard. I can’t even imagine what it was like further east, closer to Russia, or in places like Romania under Ceaușescu.

And than i see some of those countries voting in politicians who are close to Putin. Close to country that was actively destroying them few decades ago. It's as crazy as it gets. For example, Orban had big support in Hungary. Politician who is openly on Putin's side. People voted for him. Like...what the fuck? Hungary was behind iron curtain. How? Why?

That said, it really bothers me how people today water down the meaning of communism. They slap that label on anything they don’t like. The further west you go, the weirder people’s ideas of what communism actually was and is become.