Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, died yesterday at 91.
The media has been eulogizing him as the person who led the way in ending the Cold War – the coverage lists Reagan almost as an afterthought.
A quick remiinder:
In 1980, literally nobody was predicting the fall of the USSR. Everyone claiming in 1992 that they knew all along it was inevitable was full of s**t. The Left thought Reagan in particular was insane for believing it could fall.
Gorbachev was not selected by the Politburo to dismantle the Soviet Union. He was brought in to preserve and update it – think “China”. It didn’t work.
Or, to put it in a pithier vibe:
Still and all, it could have been much worse. The disintegration of the USSR could have been a bigger disaster than it’s actually been (and that’s been bad enough).
RIP, Mikhail Gorbachev.
It takes a an exceptional, once in a century special human being who inherited absolute dictatorial powers and relinquished it all trying to establish the seeds of democracy in Russia. What more needs to be said — his place in history is assured.
That it did not last says entirely about Russians and not about his contribution.
Everyone claiming in 1992 that they knew all along it was inevitable was full of s**t.
So true. But they had help. As I recall that the CIA et al produced reports wildly overstating the strength of the USSR right up to the very end.
If only Перестройка and Marshall Plan 2.0 were used in the same sentence… Ahhhh to dream…
Oh, and NYSlimes have learned nothing from Duranty experience… NOTHING
Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech was one of his finest moments and the start of a good decade.
Seems like a different lifetime, now.
At the end the Soviet military engineered a coup against Gorbachev. Real communists are quite frank about where their power comes from — it’s not the dialectic of history or the People, it is the barrel of a gun.
Overheard in Prague, November 1989.
Miloš Jakeš, Czech Communist Party General Secretary: “It’s getting serious. Protesters in Wenceslas Square went from 200,000 to 400,000 overnight. Time to send the tanks, Mikhail.”
Gorbachev: “Nyet. You’re on your own.”
Jakeš: “Ha, ha – always such a kidder, Mikhail. Really, send the tanks, or they will defenestrate us!”
Gorbachev: “Nyet.”
Jakeš: “We quit!”
Regarding a request for tanks in Wenceslas Square, the response from Czechs would have been to tear down all the border fences with Austria and Germany. Gorbachev’s only recourse would have been to send in the entire Red Army to try to resecure that long border.
Regarding the question of whether the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact would collapse, I remember that was a surprise, but the cracks were starting to become too obvious to ignore. East Germany was only going to ignore the differences between the Alexanderplatz and the Ku-Damm so long, their economy was basically third world, and even in the realm of military technology, people were becoming more and more aware that Soviet technology was junk.
Almost nobody in history has ever had such a profound impact on his era, while at the same time understanding so little about it. Read the book ‘Not One Inch’ and you will understand this perfectly.
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/9780300268034/not-one-inch
trump should visit texas to give a speech in front of an incomplete section of the wall as illegals stream across the border in the background
his speech should echo reagans speech
as long as this gap is open, as long as this mockery of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the american dream alone that remains threatened, but the question of freedom for all mankind
lesko brandon, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the united states and the world, come here to this gap
lesko brandon, close this gap
lesko biden finish this wall
and make mexico pay for it
That’s actually a good idea Bigman. It’s right up Trump’s alley, too.
Gorbachev and I entered Minnesota the same year. I got there about a month ahead of him, as I recall.
I remember seeing him on the news, wandering around the state with the same look of bewilderment I felt. He got a much better welcome, and had the good sense to leave right away.
Better deal all the way around.
It takes a an exceptional, once in a century special human being who inherited absolute dictatorial powers and relinquished it all trying to establish the seeds of democracy in Russia. What more needs to be said — his place in history is assured.
It didn’t happen in a vacuum: When Chernobyl’s reactor exploded, the Soviets initially tried to cover it up, even as radiation spread beyond their borders. The cleanup was a major blow to an already-weak Soviet economy. Coupled with the USSR’s misadventures in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union found itself overextended.
Gorbachev was a serious reformer only after he saw the writing on the wall.