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Alright, so let's say that in World War 2, there was a more distinguished Ukrainian independence movement, and was very good at pwning Germans. In order to get Ukraine back (or to keep it Communist), Stalin has Communist guys subvert the movement, but the leader of this movement turns out to be a Ukrainian nationalist, like a Ukrainian version of Tito. By 1945, Ukraine is independent or de facto independent, and though badly damaged by the war, is a functioning nation with a government, a giant vehicle manufactoring center, a large population, and good land.
Now, let's say that this Tito-like guy is really charismatic, and everyone Ukrainian likes him. And in foreign diplomatics, he is good with dealing with the superpowers. At the same time, he is a devoted socialist and Stalin thinks "Okay, it's fine as long as this guy does whatever I tell him." So the Tito-guy acts like a complete puppet for a couple years, but behind the scenes, he is soldifying his own power. Basically he turns his influence into power.
By the time Stalin finds out that this Tito-guy isn't any longer a puppet but an equal, it's too late. Stalin doesn't want to piss off the Ukrainians too badly (since that's where Russian food comes from), so he just does what he can. He keeps Ukarine as a strong ally, perhaps the strongest and most loyal Soviet ally. By the time Stalin dies in 1953, Ukraine led by Tito-guy is the most powerful ation in Eastern Europe short of the USSR (not much of a USSR without Ukraine but a USSR nonetheless).
Then Kruschev comes to power (asumming he isn't butterflied). Because he is an ethnic Ukrainian, the ties between the two nations are at an all time high, and there are a huge amount of cross-country relations. Tito-guy wants nukes, and Kruschev helps him get nukes.
But then with Kruschev getting ousted, things start going sour. Brezhnev turns out to be a douche, and although relations between Ukraine and the USSR don't get as bad as they did with China or Yugoslavia, Ukraine strats not being such a great Soviet ally, instead doing its own thing, notably making some small, Yugoslavian-like economic reforms. This is important.

Sometime in the mid/late-70s, Tito-guy dies. Now we have a trident in the road. Ukraine, in my view, can take a few pathes:
1. Become a North-Korea like crazy communist state, hating the Soviets (and the rest of the warsaw pact) and Americans alike.
2. Stay a Soviet nation in name, but get more and more capitalist, like China. When the Soviet Union collapses, this country will look awesome.
3. Stay the same and the government collapses something around 1990.

I'm liking 1 and 2.

Which one do you think is most plausible? Is any part of this scenario plausible? What ideas/opinion/comments do you have? Should I make a TL out of this?
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