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Notes -
If the Soviet Union had sponsored a communist revolution in Mexico and then announced that they were admitting Mexico into the Warsaw Pact, what do you think would happen? Would you characterize the United States as a “rabid dog” for their response?
Given how post-Cold War Mexico has turned out, I've honestly wondered if this wouldn't have been one of the worst outcomes for Mexico, if not an actual improvement. And for the anti-immigrationists in the audience, that would have obviously been a great motivator to figure out how to close the border!
To respond more seriously, though, I cannot help but imagine, whenever I see people here complain about the "color revolution" of the Euromaidan, some sort of counterfactual timeline where Russia manages to salami-slice Ukraine into their sphere of influence without as much bloodshed, and the same people whining about "NATO expansionism" now are instead bitching about how the US/West/NATO was so weak and ineffectual as to prevent literal aggressive expansionism from encroaching on Europe.
My point was it would have most likely lead to immediate military action by the United States. I wasn’t making any kind of commentary about the merits or lack thereof of communism or its application in Mexico.
Regarding your second point, that’s a genuinely interesting counterfactual, and I’m not sure what I would have thought if it turned out that way.
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