Within a few days, the Velvet Revolution started in Czechoslovakia. It was a velvet revolution because it was done without bloodshed although many were killed in previous attempts. The people elected playwright and human rights activist Vaclav Havel as their president. A few years later, Czechoslovakia would peacefully split into Czech Republic (Czechia) and Slovakia.

Yugoslavia started falling apart in 1990 when Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence. After years of horrific wars and genocide, we now have the following seven countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia.

The USSR was finally dissolved on December 26th, 1991 resulting in Russia and 14 other former Soviet countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Five communist countries remain

China, Vietnam, Laos, North Korea and Cuba are the only five communist countries remaining today. I leave you with this music video of Scorpions’ Wind of Change, the anthem of the fall of the wall and communism. As you watch the historic clips, spare a thought also for former communist countries such as Mongolia, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and others, and for the millions and millions of people who were killed under Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and other dictators.

P.S. The fragment of the Berlin Wall gifted to Albania in 2013 weighs 2.6 tons. For the 30th anniversary of the fall of the wall, Berliners sent Trump a fragment that weighs 2.7 tons. It was flown to New York and driven to Washington D.C. Among other wise words written on the wall are, “Germany is united again and in Berlin only a few scattered pieces remind us that no wall lasts forever.”

Wind of Change by Scorpions:

https://youtu.be/n4RjJKxsamQ

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