Posted on 03/01/2006 11:41:38 AM PST by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
Gorbachev, Who Turns 75 Thursday, Says End of Cold War Only Strengthened U.S. 'Arrogance'
MOSCOW - Mikhail Gorbachev's magnetic brown eyes shine as brightly as ever, and he speaks with the same passion about the collapse of the Soviet Union as he prepares to mark his 75th birthday on Thursday.
The man who ended the Cold War and launched democratic reforms that broke the repressive Soviet regime continues to enjoy the limelight, globe-trotting on behalf of his political foundation and environmental group and taking part in charity projects.
At a meeting with foreign reporters this week, Gorbachev blamed the United States for losing a chance to build a safer and more stable world following the Soviet demise.
"Ending the Cold War was given as a gift" to the United States, but it only strengthened its arrogance and unilateralism, he said. "The winner's complex is worse than an inferiority complex, because it's harder to cure."
While praised worldwide, Gorbachev has been reviled at home, where a majority of Russians hold him responsible for the Soviet breakup and subsequent economic chaos that impoverished millions.
He won a mere 1 percent of the vote in the 1996 presidential election; he hasn't run since.
Many still accuse him of caving in to the West. Anatoly Utkin, a senior researcher with the U.S. and Canada Institute, chastised Gorbachev for drastically cutting Soviet nuclear arsenals and agreeing to Germany's reunification without getting anything in return.
"Gorbachev didn't know the West. And the West didn't trust the nobility of his motives and coldly used him," Utkin said in a column in the weekly Argumenty i Fakty.
Gorbachev's record as a man who gave freedom to his land also was tarnished by some darker pages.
One was his handling of the 1986 reactor explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, which the Soviet leadership announced to the world only after scientists in Sweden detected a radioactive fallout.
Gorbachev insisted the Kremlin just didn't know the scope of the disaster, but many claim the Soviet leadership deliberately downplayed its gravity.
He is also blamed for a Soviet troop crackdown on demonstrators in Lithuania in 1991 that killed 14 and injured nearly 1,000.
Gorbachev said the troops were sent against the protesters in Vilnius on a secret KGB order of which he was unaware a claim his foes shrugged off as improbable.
Gorbachev still bristles when he talks about the betrayal by his communist lieutenants who launched the August 1991 coup that briefly ousted him. The coup collapsed within days, encouraging the Soviet republics to declare independence and shattering Gorbachev's hopes of keeping them together in a looser federation.
Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who celebrated his 75th birthday in February, recently accused Gorbachev of having advance knowledge of the coup and waiting it out to see who would win.
"Yeltsin is a liar," Gorbachev snapped, rejecting the allegation as "sheer nonsense."
Looking back at the turmoil that preceded his resignation, Gorbachev says he has never regretted his refusal to turn to military force to prevent the Soviet collapse. He said that sometimes his "hands were itching" to use force, but he realized that could have led to a civil war and even a global nuclear conflict.
Gorbachev said this week that while he could have ended Yeltsin's political career easily by dispatching him as ambassador to a distant country, he didn't do so because such a move would compromise his principles.
Yeltsin humiliated Gorbachev by giving him just a few hours to clear out of the presidential office after he signed the Soviet Union out of existence on Dec. 25, 1991. He never invited him to the Kremlin afterward.
Gorbachev's relations with the Kremlin have seen a marked improvement under Vladimir Putin, whom he has praised repeatedly for ending the political chaos and economic decline of Yeltsin's era.
Despite his age, Gorbachev seems as lively and energetic as before, giving the impression of genuinely enjoying life. "I like good dishes from all over the world. I have tasted them all and I still can't name a favorite," he said.
He rarely touches a fiction book, but reads a lot of history, philosophy and political science.
"I also watch a lot of movies, mostly on TV. I have gotten sick of (American) blockbusters and love Russian movies," he said.
Gorbachev, Carter, Chavez, Castro, Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il, Howard Dean, Belafonte, Sheehan, Moore, and ... Well you can add to the list.
I'll tell you what 'arrogance' is. Ordering the massacre of Lithuanians for daring to want independance from the Soviet Union. Which is precisely what Gorby did.
Oh, is that right, Ink Stain?
That mark on his head must be The Gulag Archipelago..
Yes, it would be much better if the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc still existed, so Americans wouldn't be so "arrogant."
Of course, France, Germany and the rest of Old Europe couldn't be so arrogant, either. They'd still have to kiss our rearends.
There you go injecting facts into it.
Gorby's got feeeeeeelings, ya know!
Hey VLADIMIR...that would be Reagan, you turd.
Once again, the LSM gives Gorby the credit which is solely due RR.
There, I fixed a few typos.
While praised worldwide, Gorbachev has been reviled at home, where a majority of Russians hold him responsible for the Soviet breakup and subsequent economic chaos that impoverished millions.
Winning the Cold War was NOT a gift. It was earned.
Or what. I'd say he sounds more like Clinton desperately trying to salvage his legacy, only for Gorby it is much more of an uphill climb. The Toon just lost nuclear secrets to China and Gorby lost the whole shebang.
Hey, when you take down your greatest enemy without firing a shot you have a right to be arrogant. Conversely, loosing an empire without firing a shot gives you the right to be humble. Try being humble Ink Stain, you of all people have reason to be so.
Anyone else remember him accusing Reagan of "egoistic dictat"? (Yeah, that stung, after being completely lost in translation).
Guess there's no fool like an old fool.
What can you expect from a disgruntled old leftist like Gorbachev? He's just pissed the US bested the USSR in the Cold War and worse, it all came in on them during his watch. He's just another dime-a-dozen "jealous of America's success" Eurotrash America basher. Who cares what this marginalized old has-been commie apparatchik thinks?
On the plus side for Russia, it doesn't have the looming threat of Raisa Gorbachev's possible election to give another socialist kick to the country. On the other hand, we still have the Wicked Witch of Chappaqua to fear.
"The man who ended the Cold War" the same way the Seahawks ended the Super Bowl.
Sounds to me like old Gorby's still bitter about the whole "losing the Cold War" thing...
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