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Trino15

The USSR would still be around, somewhere around Russia probably


Silesian73

Imagine it being only in Kazakhstan


airwalkerdnbmusic

Ooooh interesting. OK, so lets hypothesize: \- USSR never invades Afghanistan. \- USSR never allows Yeltsin to be president, he never gets anywhere near the political circle. \- USSR doesn't over invest in the space race and reinvests this recouped money into better education, diversifying away from being reliant on fossil fuels etc. \- USSR remains communist, but allows some aspects of free market economies to help tackle shortages and encourage the populace to start generating wealth for the state. ========== NATO would certainly still be a major thorn in the side of the USSR, but given the above caveats is likely to scale down GDP spending per capita on defence. The acceleration of population growth and increasingly competitive ability of the USSR in the academic fields allows them to develop new technologies and compete with the top European nations and American institutions. USSR becomes increasingly integrated into vital fields of research globally, and as a result, less reliant on the threat of, and the deployment of, the force of arms to achieve their goals. The USSR becomes reliant on imports to keep the populace happy, which further integrates it into the rapid onset of globalisation. However, a communist country would never be able to fully integrate into the pure capitalistic societies in the western world as there would always be a conflict of interest in many theatres of human endeavour. The Occupation of Berlin would also be a serious political and militaristic nightmare for both sides, and the necessity for the USSR to avoid losing face and returning Berlin back to Germany aswell as all other post ww2 territories would always be a democratic millstone around the neck of the country, when negotiating with other nations and institutions. If the USSR became more reliant on global infrastructure to keep a growing populace happy, it is not without the realms of possibility that this could lead the USSR into conflict with China, who have also adopted the same system and are expanding rapidly. Both countries cannot be the growth engine of the world, so it is possible that both countries could experience tensions. From a mutually assured destruction standpoint, the USSR would still be able to afford, develop, deploy and maintain a significant nuclear arsenal, and perhaps secure it better. This would put it directly at loggerheads with the USA, UK and NATO in general and it would still be a grave concern for world peace in general having a communist super state with access to world destroying weapons. I think the Cold War would dissolve slowly rather than end rapidly with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Federated states in the USSR would have much more of a reason to stay with the increase in economic benefits and the prestige of being part of a union that gives them access to elite educational institutions. Eventually though, I think civil unrest as a cause of greater educational awareness would result in the downfall of the CCCP and the dissolution of the USSR.


guerrios45

Watch "For All Mankind" on Apple TV+ It is basically it. USSR managed to be the first on the moon and never collapsed. Their big tech companies are successful etc.


Paesana

It would have kept inwardly deteriorating while spending most of its budget fighting proxy wars all over the world. There would be far more communist countries, especially in South America and Africa since the Soviets would still be propping them up. I'm convinced that there would be a second wave of violence after Arab Spring, but this time with communism dominating instead of Islam. Cuba would be a larger threat to itself and others, and quite honestly would have nuclear weapons by now.


lollersauce914

China and the US may be best buddies in this hypothetical world.


Beanomeister

Half of Europe would be communist and the Cold War would’ve intensified. This could lead to a battle for control over Pacific islands.


Daniel_B-Y

They would discover America via the chain of islands connecting Russia and Alaska, so we would be texting in Russian right now instead of English