[1rudeboy]

When the Soviet Union dissolved by peaceful secession, it was only 70 years old — the same age as the United States when it dissolved in 1860. Did Gorbachev fail as a statesman because he negotiated a peaceful dissolution of the U.S.S.R.?

What is with the love-affair that some paleos have with Gorbo? I can understand the "no foreign entanglement" angle, but why do they cross the line into being outright apologists for the Soviet regime?

[Kenny Bunk]

What is with the love-affair that some paleos have with Gorbo?

Good friggn' question. Gorbo did not "negotiate" the end of the Soviet Union. It collapsed around him despite his best efforts to keep it alive.