Mikhail Gorbachev RIP

Shrews

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news

Made the world a safe place again after a 40 year Cold War. Russia will mourn his passing tonight and hopefully take a look at how the current leader compares.

ICBM

A truly great man, who changed the world for the better, and the like of who his country desperately needs again.

A tragedy that he lived long enough to see the ruin that Putin has made of Russia but not long enough to see his fall.

RIP

Philly_Q

Shrews said:

Russia will mourn his passing tonight and hopefully take a look at how the current leader compares.

I wonder if they really will?  I'd imagine the current government portrays him as a weak leader who facilitated the collapse of the glorious Soviet Union.

And although he was undoubtedly a good man with noble intentions, I don't think Gorbachev himself anticipated the collapse of the USSR.  But he certainly seemed a hero to us in the West.

RIP

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

I'd imagine the current government portrays him as a weak leader who facilitated the collapse of the glorious Soviet Union.

And although he was undoubtedly a good man with noble intentions, I don't think Gorbachev himself anticipated the collapse of the USSR.  But he certainly seemed a hero to us in the West.

Apparently he’s seen in Russia as their worst leader, because he accidentally caused the end of the USSR and the diminution of Russia as a superpower.

In fact, that would have happened sooner or later anyway, and possibly even more dangerously for the population without his reforms.

He’s the Russian equivalent of F.W. de Clerk in South Africa - an insider who brought down his own system, with the best of intentions. It didn’t work out quite as well as he hoped, although still probably better than the alternative.

What’s happened in Russia since the end of the Cold War is arguably at least partly the fault of the West for not making a stronger attempt to support their economy, as we successfully did with Germany and Japan after their defeat, although it’s possible that Putin would have floated to the top at some point anyway.

darthed1981

ICBM said:

What’s happened in Russia since the end of the Cold War is arguably at least partly the fault of the West for not making a stronger attempt to support their economy, as we successfully did with Germany and Japan after their defeat, although it’s possible that Putin would have floated to the top at some point anyway.

Yes a definite failure from the west there - at one point it looked like in the long run Russia would become an EU member or even join NATO - a terrible shame for all of us things are going the way they are.

RIP Gorbachev - there were 30 years where the nuclear threat partially went away, and anyone with any responsibility for that deserves to be remembered fondly.

Offset

Shrews said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news

Made the world a safe place again after a 40 year Cold War. Russia will mourn his passing tonight and hopefully take a look at how the current leader compares.

Much of Russia will not mourn Gorby's passing I suspect - he will only be mourned by those for whom perestroika meant increased opportunities both within the bloc and with the West.  Many blame him for the implosion of the USSR and the end of 'certainty' for the majority of the Soviet populace.

I for one (along with many others) will remember him as the man who made the world a safer place.  A great man, in other words.  He will not rest easy, I'm sure, given what Putin is doing in the name of his country.

A salutary footnote...  watching the news with a 23-year old today, I was asked: "Who was Mikhail Gorbachev?"  Not too sure what that tells us.

ICBM

Offset said:

A salutary footnote...  watching the news with a 23-year old today, I was asked: "Who was Mikhail Gorbachev?"  Not too sure what that tells us.

That we're old, and that the Cold War was a long time ago.

Remember how permanent the Berlin Wall seemed when we were kids? It's now been down for longer than it was up.

prowla

We've had almost half a century of peace in Europe thanks to Gorbie, Ronnie, and Maggie; he is one of the most remarkable leaders who has existed in my lifetime.

It's too bad the weasel in charge there at the moment is trying to turn the clock back to those days before.

mrkb

prowla said:

We've had almost half a century of peace in Europe thanks to Gorbie, Ronnie, and Maggie; he is one of the most remarkable leaders who has existed in my lifetime.

It's too bad the weasel in charge there at the moment is trying to turn the clock back to those days before.

Wasn’t it Frankie Goes to Hollywood who got them all together for the two tribes video? They don’t get the recognition they deserve…