Dave:

The French led dictates to the Germans after WW1 is a good analogy of what the US dictates were at the end of the Cold War. Different in a point to point comparison but very similar in effect. The way the USSR was dismantled left a big gap that was filled by crime syndicates and has led to so much corruption today.

I don't remember seeing George H Bush being referred to as ex-CIA Bush often, yet he headed the CIA at one point.

The best way of describing how to treat a former enemy with dignity is to look at how Mc Arthur handled the Japanese after WW2 compared to how France and England handled Germany after WW1. Closer to home look at how the North handled the South after the Civil war where they bankrupted every state in the South and then left the people to fend for themselves. The chaos and violence that followed led to the Jim Crow laws that have left scars to this day.

While it's true the Soviets were spying on us we were also spying on them. It's what Nations do.

While trying to guess what would happen if an event was changed in history is great for a novel it's a fools game in real life. History is what's happened and is in the unchangeable past. One undeniable fact is that after WW2 the US was the only Nation with an unscathed industrial capacity and instead of using all that economic clout for the benefit of the US people we have spent the better part of those nearly 70 years in one war or another. We've squandered all that wealth for political self satisfaction.

The Soviet Union was definitely evil but then again so was the Peoples Republic of China. As many people as Hitler or Stalin killed, Mao killed even more. We handled each very differently and the results show which was the better method.