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He is writing about Eastern Europe today and takes us through a catalog of winners and losers. Essentially - in his pea brain - winners are those that embraced capitalism and losers aren't. Also, winers also have a healthy fear of being invaded again. He then provides just enough examples to where he tries to prove his point - but not if you have half a brain.
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It's easy to quibble with any particular example he makes:
- Bosnia is a loser because they don't embrace capitalism - not because of a war.
- Belarus is a capitalistic winner - even though it is a communist kleptocracy.
- Countries that don't fit aren't mentioned int he Fall of the Berlin Wall story - East Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria. Yes, he doesn't mention well over 1/2 of the countries because they don't fit his narrative.
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I am personally offended by this sloppy half-assed column because in 1990 (one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall) in my Grad school at Pacific International Affairs, I wrote a paper on why Poland would succeed after communism (based on the lessons learned from the Asian Tigers).
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So the lazy shitty half-truths from David Brooks are offensive. wrong, offensive and stupid.
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Argh!