People in the affected communities can, with very few exceptions, pursue normal lives,

Fear of radiation is a far greater threat to the affected individuals than radiation itself,

The health and environmental effects ... have been relatively and surprisingly minor.

there is a strong historical correlation between open societies and honest societies and their economic progress, so over time of course, this matters a great deal.

Overall, the region has improved, because economic growth is very strong.

[The rapid advancement of the Baltic nations of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, also former Soviet republics, has been] something of a miracle, ... political culture.