Comments by "BVargas78" (@BVargas78) on "Rare Footage of Soviet Central Asia Under Brezhnev | Religion and Revolution in the USSR (1980)" video.

@ArdaSReal It depends, the Stalin era was very destructive, even before WW2 but things did improve afterwards. In some cases, like Turkmenistan, they were better off in 60's and 70's USSR than they are now.
5
Not sure about Uzbekistan but many of these countries like Turkmenistan and Tajikistan were better off under the Soviets (post Stalin). Though Kazahkstan seems better than before. Azerbaijan certainly is.
4
That's how the cold war was fought. But it ultimately was a self defeating strategy as the Soviet Union pushed itself far beyond its capacities and the system started to buckle and the peoples needs and living standards suffered for it. And this is what ultimately led to their downfall. You could say that Afghanistan was the straw that broke the camels back. But had they invested more of their great wealth in their own people and not in overseas proxy wars, it may have continued to survive though perhaps in a smaller form as i think that Warsaw Pact breaking apart was always going to be on the cards once they took on Gorbachevs democratizing reforms. It's also worth bearing in mind that America who should have been a close ally, was not supportive of the British Empire in its classic form.
1