~by Soviet standards a peaceful man who was not willing to get as violent as would have been necessary to hold the country together.
The Lithuanians might beg to differ on that.~
So does Azeris and it is nothing but emotional overreaction. Both are extremely lucky they had Gorby, not Stalin in office at the time.
Yes, lucky. So are you by the way. If it were Stalin you’d be living in a gigantic North Korea now eating grass.