30 Aug 22
https://www.reuters.com/world/mikhail-gorbachev-who-ended-cold-war-dies-aged-92-agencies-2022-08-30/
Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War, dies aged 91, Russian media reports
Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Tuesday at the age of 91, Russian news agencies cited hospital officials as saying.
Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, forged arms reduction deals with the United States and partnerships with Western powers to remove the Iron Curtain that had divided Europe since World War Two and bring about the reunification of Germany.
When pro-democracy protests swept across the Soviet bloc nations of communist Eastern Europe in 1989, he refrained from using force - unlike previous Kremlin leaders who had sent tanks to crush uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.
But the protests fuelled aspirations for autonomy in the 15 republics of the Soviet Union, which disintegrated over the next two years in chaotic fashion.
Gorbachev struggled in vain to prevent that collapse.
On becoming general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1985, aged just 54, he had set out to revitalise the system by introducing limited political and economic freedoms, but his reforms spun out of control.
His policy of 'glasnost' - free speech - allowed previously unthinkable criticism of the party and the state, but also emboldened nationalists who began to press for independence in the Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and elsewhere.
Many Russians never forgave Gorbachev for the turbulence that his reforms unleashed, considering the subsequent plunge in their living standards too high a price to pay for democracy.
After visiting Gorbachev in hospital on June 30, liberal economist Ruslan Grinberg told the armed forces news outlet Zvezda: "He gave us all freedom - but we don't know what to do with it."
- Joined
- 23 Feb 22
- Moves
- 1798
@vivify saidRepublicans gave America freedom, but the people didn't know what to do with it and voted Democrat anyway.
"He gave us all freedom - but we don't know what to do with it."
I wonder if this explains Putin's dictatorial way of ruling. Perhaps he looked as his predecessor's desire for a freer Russia as warning that an iron fist is needed to maintain order.
@JJ-Adams
You are SO full of Shyte I don't even know where to begin.
Tell me what bills Maga's have made law that helps ANYONE?
Tell me what bills just passed by Dems and Biden you hate the most?
Gun control? Chips? Allowing medicare to make deals for cheaper meds?
The infrastructure bill?
That last Trump couldn't get done even though he OWNED both houses.
So tell me which of those bills you hate? One or just ANYTHING made by Dems, no matter WHAT kind of content it contains?
31 Aug 22
@jj-adams saidSomeone drag the American out and relieve us of his misery.
Republicans gave America freedom, but the people didn't know what to do with it and voted Democrat anyway.
Good grief.
This is about the death of a key figure in the end of the cold war and all this cracker can do is attempt to drag the thread back into the realm of American dumb-arse politics.
Gorby was a better man than most. Made significant changes, but failed to realise what opening the doors to unbridled capitalism would actually do to the country.
31 Aug 22
@sonhouse saidJJ is currently conducting advanced research under the auspices of a grant from the Horse Blinker Manufacturers Association of America to determine a 95 percent confidence interval for the magnitude of dumbth that would result when raising dumb to the power of dumber.
@JJ-Adams
You are SO full of Shyte I don't even know where to begin.
Tell me what bills Maga's have made law that helps ANYONE?
Tell me what bills just passed by Dems and Biden you hate the most?
Gun control? Chips? Allowing medicare to make deals for cheaper meds?
The infrastructure bill?
That last Trump couldn't get done even though he OWNED both houses.
S ...[text shortened]... those bills you hate? One or just ANYTHING made by Dems, no matter WHAT kind of content it contains?
@shavixmir saidI don’t think the west can absolve itself from the ensuing disaster, Gorbachev did open the door and we piled in and started kicking the furniture about because our capitalist system couldn’t resist the urge to revel in its ‘victory’.
Someone drag the American out and relieve us of his misery.
Good grief.
This is about the death of a key figure in the end of the cold war and all this cracker can do is attempt to drag the thread back into the realm of American dumb-arse politics.
Gorby was a better man than most. Made significant changes, but failed to realise what opening the doors to unbridled capitalism would actually do to the country.
31 Aug 22
@moonbus saidI agree with that.
Gorbachev tried to do the right thing, but the patient was already too sick for the cure.
Communism will eventually burn itself out. It lived all those years based on starting with an intact infrastructure.
All the Soviets had to do was maintain that infrastructure, but they invested little in doing just that.
It's a job that independent businessmen would have done in order to survive.
So, it was just a question of time for the Soviets, really, just as it is in Cuba and North Korea.
@earl-of-trumps saidThe Soviet system had many flaws, failure to maintain infrastructure was only one of them. By the time Gorbi came to power, there too many which had reached critical stages to fix them all.
I agree with that.
Communism will eventually burn itself out. It lived all those years based on starting with an intact infrastructure.
All the Soviets had to do was maintain that infrastructure, but they invested little in doing just that.
It's a job that independent businessmen would have done in order to survive.
So, it was just a question of time for the Soviets, really, just as it is in Cuba and North Korea.
Chinese Communism has already morphed into something Marx wouldn’t recognize. Whether it will fail of its own internal contradictions, or be overthrown by its own angry citizens, remains to be seen.