Posted on 08/30/2022 1:41:37 PM PDT by jroehl
Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, has died at the age of 92, Russian news agencies cited hospital officials as saying on Tuesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Exactly.
I thought he looked like Lieutenant Anderson from the Perry Mason Show.
Is it really Putin? Will we ever know?
https://hoaxeye.com/2017/06/23/gorbachev-reagan-and-putin/
Liberal after the face propaganda.
Russian writer and dissident Andrei Amalrik predicted the downfall of the Soviet Union in a famous essay from 1970, “Will the Soviet Union Survive Until 1984?”.
Amalrik predicated the fall as flowing from a disastrous Sino-Soviet war though.
It was a good Cold War read though.
I think by the ‘70s it was beginning to become apparent that the sclerotic USSR couldn’t compete, Upper Volta with rockets was a common trope about then.
I had an econ history prof, Austrian School, moderate liberal socially, strongly pro-defense spending, the kind of Dem that’s gone extinct.
Dr. Marino had worked in econ analysis for the Pentagon and in ‘79 he was telling us the Soviets were screwed and would be history in 10 years.
To be honest most of us were skeptical!
A mere snow flake on Antarctica —
https://fitzinfo.net/2021/02/15/green-cross-gorbachev-and-global-enviro-communism/amp/
Gorbechev played his role in ending the cold war - willingly.
Here is what I remember...
In his bio, Gorbechev tells the story of sitting around a table with
the other leaders of the Soviet Union.
Reagan had just referred to the Soviets as “an evil empire.”
This was a radical approach to international diplomacy
that the diplomatic world had never seen. It sent shock
waves everywhere.
As their meeting began, Gorbechev mentioned the Evil Empire comment.
Then a strange thing happened. One by one, people around the table
began to tell stories of what happened to their family members and
friends. They together concluded it was really an Evil Empire.
From that day on, it’s days were marked and Gorbechev negotiated
with Reagan to end it and bring peace.
Now you can credit Reagan, or the Pope, or Maggie. They each played
a crucial and unified role. But Gorbechev played his role too instead of
doubling down and retrenching. He saw the future and took gigantic steps
in response.
So I give Gorbechev significant credit for the role he played.
Yes, your picture is correct. I was going on memory and forget the famous Reagan quote “Trust but verify.”
Only Russian I ever liked.
Good riddance you commie bastard. Satan has a warm spot for you and the rest of the former politburo.
Yeltsin was the only Russian from that era who deserves praise.
I liked Mikhail Gorbachev for many reasons, not the least was his birthmark reminded me of Florida! Or, was that a tattoo, too/also.
RIP Mr. Gorbachev, you are a historic person of the world.
“He didn’t have any say in the political structure of the U.S.S.R. falling apart.”
—
I would disagree. While he surely didn’t mean to dismantle it, his reforms - glasnost and perestroika - backfired on him, both being implemented at the same time and too quickly. Political foes and reformers could speak openly and open protests occurred. So his part was mostly one that he stumbled into.
“Maybe enlightened self-interest- he was young enough to have something to lose in WW3, as opposed to Andropov and other really old guys.”
—
Interestingly enough, unlike the old guys before him, Gorbachev was the only USSR president who was born in the Soviet Union. The rest were born before the USSR was established.
That being said, it could have gone much worse. I think in his heart, Gorbachev knew that communism was failing and he was preparing his people for that eventuality. Glasnost and perestroika reflected that.
As an aside, a few weeks ago I was flicking through channels and found one of those "nostalgia" ones. It was playing the Head Of The Class episode where the team goes to Russia. That was in 1988. It was the first American sitcom to film in the Soviet Union. Can't imagine something like that happening on anyone else's watch.
Putin has dead eyes. Not concerned with killing his own soldiers or firing missiles at buildings with women and children in them.
We have many things to thank the Ukraine people for but Zelensky is not one of them. He is a loser and Putin is too.
But they both lose. Ask the mothers and fathers of the men that will never be seen again.
That picture is wonderful.
I, honestly, think that there was no guile in their relationship.
I hope that they are now reunited in Heaven, bantering about the state of the world and Russian-American relations.
“Yes, Yeltsin is the one who brought the “We’re friends now” era in. Too bad it didn’t last.”
—
The Russian people were glad to see Yeltsin go away, the 90s were exceptionally awful for them. He also was pretty much a drunken buffoon.
Even in death, they try to take their shots at RR.
The modern day Bolsheviks look back fondly at the days when they drilled over their Soviet brethren.
Now “Russia bad!”
What did you expect Zelensky to do? Roll over and surrender?
“Mikhail Gorbachev: a divisive figure loved abroad but loathed at home”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/31/mikhail-gorbachev-a-divisive-figure-loved-abroad-but-loathed-at-home
They ended the Cold War. We should have returned the favor. Nike and Apple and Microsoft should have built factories in Russia. Corruption is an issue. They were communists. So all of a sudden they had to transition to a market economy? Yeah they were in for rough times. Still we should have done more to help out. Instead we are potentially risking a nuclear holocaust.
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