Friends, today we bid "Adieu!", or, more accurately, "Dasvidania!", to Mikhail Gorbachev, last leader of the Soviet Union before its untimely demise in 1991. It bears mentioning that our victory in the Cold War (by default), and the USSR's obliteration, were never part of Gorbachev's master plan. In many ways, the Soviet unraveling, and the opening of Soviet society that preceded it, were accidental developments that quickly spun out of Gorbachev's control. Ergo, he was less a brilliant or a successful leader than he was one blessed with blind luck. Or was it luck? Many Russians now view "Gorby" as a lackey of the West, and as the man who torpedoed Greater Russia in favor of opening a few McDonald's franchises. Be that as it may, we in the West owe Gorbachev hearty thanks, and for countless reasons, but first among them the fact that, as the Soviet Union unraveled -- a process fraught with peril for the whole world -- his leadership was just steady enough to prevent armageddon. Whew! We dodged the bullet there. So...spasiba, Mikhail! In a very real sense, those of us still alive and kicking today are only so fortunate because of you. Let's try not to blow the immense gift that God and Gorbachev, working (somewhat incongruously) together, have given us, hmm?
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-62732807
In other news, the social media giants are conspiring to maintain their monopolistic grip on digital discourse in countless ways, but first among them is a series of devious machinations to crush the competition. First, it was Parler, and now it's Truth Social. I've been meaning to get on Truth Social for a while now. Sadly, my Android phone won't be of much help -- and Google aims to keep it that way.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/google/2022/08/30/id/1085263/
Ray to Nick
ReplyDeleteBroiling Summer 1987 in Berlin, and American tourist in Berlin Ron Reagan shouts out:
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" And the next thing that happens in the blink of an eye, is that Gorbo drives up in a truck, get out, rolls up his sleeves, and begins pounding on the wall with a sledge hammer, makes a few dents it, and receives a year's supply of red jelly beans from tourist Ron. Great f***ing moments in Western Civilization!
If anyone less in the same place on the same day had said the same thing (other than Ron) he/she would have probably been laughed down or ignored. And yet because Reagan said this, it will go down in history as a great speech. What a stupid shit world we live in. Remember the JFK speech over there back in the 1960s? JFK, said he was a Berliner too, and screwed that up in German. Really! JFK a Berliner. When did that rich, spoiled chain adulterer and fornicator have to live behind the Iron Curtain. Another great speech by famous people on planet Dingbat.
Ray, it's worth remembering that, when Reagan gave that speech, it was widely considered intemperate and aggressive (and also futile, since everyone expected the Berlin Wall to stick around for another thirty years). His brave words only look prophetic in retrospect. Still, even if blind luck was Reagan's chief ally in "ending the Cold War", you have to admit that he COULD have screwed it up, and didn't.
ReplyDeleteRay to Nick
ReplyDeleteThe Berlin Wall shows how stupid people are when they invent such barriers. Berlin was entirely surrounded by East Germany anyway, so how much difference did it really make that half of that city belonged to (West Germany?). Political theater in my opinion. Bad deals at Yalta for sure, that the U.S. never had complete control of a defeated Germany. How Poland ended up was a disgrace.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: In his fine book Lenin's Tomb, David Remnick quotes Gorbachev as having said" we cannot go on like this any longer", in despair over the continuing viability of Soviet communism and empire. That he pursued relatively nonviolent solutions was counterintuitive, given past Soviet tyranny. After Krushchev gave his 1956 speech denouncing Stalin, a Soviet functionary said "why Stalin would not even have left a wet spot "(of him)!
ReplyDeleteOh, I totally agree about Yalta, Ray -- but I suppose you could argue that FDR was merely recognizing the inevitable. I mean, once Soviet tanks rolled into Warsaw, or Budapest, or Berlin, who was going to force them out again? Not us, although we probably should have.
ReplyDeleteI disagree about the Berlin Wall. In the 50s the East Germans sealed off the rest of their border with West Germany, and in 1961 they finished the job in Berlin. The object was to prevent mass emigration on a scale that threatened the viability of East Germany. It worked. Instead of hundreds of thousands of people leaving every year, the numbers dropped into the hundreds. Plus, who could argue with an "Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier"... What are you, Ray -- some kind of fascist? (That's a rhetorical question.)
Jack, Gorby may have believed that the USSR needed fundamental reform (I imagine everyone did), but of what sort and to what degree were big question marks. The irony is that Gorbachev's top priority was to fix the economy, and instead his fumbling only made it worse.