As I remember the west “liked” him, or could at least deal with him. 

There were major European and American brands available in the shops long before Pepsi made a deal to sell in Moscow under Nixon / Brezhnev.

No, I would not want him in my neighborhood, especially when you consider how it all fell apart, and what happened in Serbia, Bosnia, etc since he died. A lot of resentment kept repressed by the prototypical iron fist.