Without advocating for either side, it seems to me that those countries that formed the Iron Curtain came out of the Cold War in better shape than those that orbited the USA (Central America, especifically).<p>Maybe they were in better shape to begin with. Still, I find it quite amazing that nearly every country in the Eastern Bloc built cars and all but Albania made microcomputers.<p>On the other hand, Guatemala came out of the Cold War in worse shape than Cuba.