As fireworks burst over the closing ceremony of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, there was no doubt who “won” these games. Although no one could have known it in that moment, this was the last time the world would ever gaze at a united, powerful and triumphant communist world. The Soviet Union had backed the communist invasion that devastated South Korea during the Korean War. Loosened trade barriers had introduced the communist world to new products, including the explicitly capitalist board game Monopoly. Very few observers could conceive of a 21st century without a significant communist world.

Source: National Post February 12, 2018 12:00 UTC