In the former Yugoslavia maybe. But in the former USSR and Warsaw Pact countries, that isn’t even remotely true. The US was critical in supporting anti-USSR resistance, either directly with money or symbolically (“Tear down this wall”)
The image of the good guy USA had (at least in eastern Europe) has less to do with how they treated other countries and more with how they treated their own citizens.
Exactly it has more to do with which end of the stick you're on.
On the other hand, treating your citizens decently isn't that low of a bar. There are quite a few states out there where you can't have even that.