[Franek Grabowski]

Personally, I think both Ed and Artie have some right, though I would not necessarily agree with all their views.
It is also not only a trauma but a very physical consequences of Soviet dominance, that result in economical collapse. It is also due to links between former agents of communistic secret services, including spies in the west. This is a cancer that must be removed in interest of all of us. It affects also understanding of history - Russians and then Soviets paid hard bucks to influential journalists and writers just to create aview of their country and history that had fitted their needs. Amassement of extreme leftist at some universities is not a coincidence.
Of course this worked perfectly when none was able to get inside of the Soviet Union - please note what had happenned to eg. US airmen, who 'infiltrated' behind the border during the WWII. Of course, we, 'insiders', have a vastly different experience and we want to show it both to get some truth but also to get some safety. Truth is just the best killer of communism.
Thus said, I have to make some comments to Artie Bob's post.
Actually there is a lot of (indirect) evidence that Soviets were redying to an agressive war. I think most important document is an operational plan for aviation of White Russian Front, that leaves no doubt about aggressive character. I would suggest to open another thread for the subject, however.
The same concerns German doctrine. If one reads Mein Kampf, he will understand. The main objective was to avoid a war on two fronts at all costs. They failed, a question is - why?
Finally, about Soviet aggression. This was an aggressive country as was Russia to some degree. Their main objective was to regain control over all the former Russian Empire. Then, the sphere of influence and ultimately occupation had to be widened. It is apparent from Trotsky but also from the moves of Soviet government. They just did it another way rather than Germans. They first were establishing a communistic opposition, quite often by overtaking an existing one, then pumped them with money and finally either sponsored a 'peaceful democratic' takeover or military coup. This way they did or attempted to in France, Greece, Italy or Spain in Europe, Chile and Cuba in Latin America, Afghanistan and Vietnam in Asia, etc. They were only partially successfull with such countries like China or Yugoslavia. I am not counting revolutions in Germany and Hungary in 1918 but perhaps I should do so as well. Really, Soviet imperialism is a fascinating stuff but even more impressive is their propaganda.