Gorbachev to attend Reagan's funeral

AP Wire | June 07 2004 | Associated Press

[knighthawk]

MOSCOW -- Mikhail Gorbachev will attend the funeral of former President Ronald Reagan, an aide to the former Soviet boss said Monday.

Gorbachev will fly to Washington from Germany after an appearance at an awards ceremony, Vladimir Polyakov said.

Despite hawkish comments by Reagan, including a declaration that the Soviet Union an "evil empire," Reagan and Gorbachev worked together to steer their superpower nations away from nuclear confrontation and toward the end of Moscow's empire.

"He has already entered history as a man who was instrumental in bringing about the end of the Cold War," Gorbachev said Sunday, a day after Reagan's death.

Gorbachev also praised Reagan as a man of peace in an article on the Monday Op-Ed page of The New York Times.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[Numbers Guy]

Well, it's not like Gorby has anything else to do with all that free time.

[Frank_Discussion]

I assume he'll be seated to the FAR LEFT...

[Semper Paratus]

"He has already entered history as a man who was instrumental in bringing about the end of the Cold War," Gorbachev said Sunday, a day after Reagan's death.

The leader of the losers of the Cold War acknowledges it. Why can't liberals?

[Interesting Times]

Gorbachev is still trying to figure out what hit him...

[Patrick1]

He can sit with Jimmy Carter in the "Ash Heap" section.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Gorbachev? I can't quite remember. Isn't he the pudgy guy who played the crotchety drunken newsroom manager on the Mary Tyler Moore Show?

[mlbford2]

Close. same politics , different man.

[Shermy]

Doubt it.

I bet he'll get a prominent seat up-front, maybe with Thatcher. Now, if he sits next to Havel and Walesa...

The seating should be interesting politics...

[Red Badger]

I guess he's going to VERIFY................

[Chad Fairbanks]

No. He's the guy with the red map of Scandinavia on his forehead...

[Semper Paratus]

He's the guy with the red map of Scandinavia on his forehead...

He's also the guy that got 1% of the vote in Russia's first free election.

[trebb]

Even our historical enemies have more couth and class than the Dim "leadership".

[exile]

"Even our historical enemies have more couth and class than the Dim "leadership".

Absolutely on target.

[mitchbert]

Amazing isn't it? Gorbachev, the leader of the mortal enemy of the U.S. when he took power exhibits more class and decency than so many pundits on this side of the pond.

We can take potshots at him all we want, but the inescapable fact is that he had the wisdom to see that the game was up. Could he have ultimately stopped the forces of disintegration that he had helped unleash and President Reagan so skillfully pushed along? Probably not, but another leader could have made the road much more unpredictable and treacherous. There was no shortage of men within the Politburo and the Soviet bloc that felt the best way to deal with the rumblings in Eastern Europe was with tanks and violence. At a meeting as the edifice of communism began to crack Gorby was reported to have stood up and challenged them: "What do you suggest? Shall we send the tanks and 'teach them how to live' again?" I'm sure there were more than a few folks in that room that wanted to see a bullet in his head from that moment on. Just because Gorbachev knew the game was up didn't mean he had to accept it. Hitler sent children and old men into the streets of Berlin when all was certainly lost.

Having Gorbachev there, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him seated near Lady Thatcher and others of his "era" will be quite a sight, and nothing less a tribute to the respect he holds for the late President. He won't be biting his tongue in remembrance the way I suspect many of Reagan' former opponents will be. Recall that he also knows loss personally, not long ago losing Raisa, who by all accounts he loved much as Ron loved Nancy and she him. Gorbachev knew Reagan was an honest man he could work with, and most importantly for those heady days, a man who he could trust to keep his word when he promised (as many believe) not to use the fall of the Eastern bloc as an excuse to rub the Russians' noses in their defeat (an act that would have accomplished nothing positive).

The Dem's are likely too shallow to realize it, but Gorbachev's attendance at the funeral (and possibly emotional attendance at that) is perhaps the most damning rebuke to Reagan's detractors in life. I'm glad he's coming and I say good on him. JMHO.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Despite hawkish comments by Reagan, including a declaration that the Soviet Union an "evil empire,"

Dear AP,

FU

Sincerely,

IOTN

[Tijeras_Slim]

Nice post. Gorby is showing much more dignity than Carter.

[usapatriot28]

The leader of the losers of the Cold War acknowledges it. Why can't liberals?

Gorbachev has been saying this for years. And the left in the country still continues to dispute it.

[XJarhead]

I'll probably get slammed for this, but it took both Reagan and a Soviet leader who was civilized to end the Cold War. Gorby was a rotten commie, but he wasn't a bloodthirsty rotten commie. He could have sent the tanks into Eastern Europe, but he didn't. I'll give him credit for that.