Essay by Eric Worrall
Mikhail Gorbachev will be remembered by many as the last leader of the Soviet Union. But he is also one of the founding architects of the United Nations Climate Action Machine.
Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader who ended the cold war, dies at the age of 91
Russian news agencies reported that the last leader of the Soviet Union died at the central clinical hospital in Moscow
Andrew Roth in Moscow and Luke HardingWednesday, August 31, 2022 08.19 AEST
Mikhail GorbachevThe former Soviet leader, whose reforms led to the disintegration of his own country and led to the fall of communism across Central and Eastern Europe, has died in Moscow at the age of 91.
Hailed abroad as the savior who brought freedom to millions of Soviet citizens, he was often blamed at home for the tumultuous years that followed, and survived long enough to see Russia returned to autocracy under the rule of Vladimir Putin.
Gorbachev, the 1990 Nobel peace laureate, has died after an “endurable and protracted illness,” Russian news agencies quoted hospital officials as saying on Tuesday. Recent reports say he is suffering from kidney disease.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/30/mikhail-gorbachev-dies-soviet-leader-92
Most people remember Gorbachev for his efforts to liberate the Soviet state. Gorbachev freed dissidents, and prevented Soviet troops from crushing the uprising in East Germany and other satellite states.
But despite his gentle handling of dissidents, Gorbachev remained a communist in power until the end of the Soviet Empire. Gorbachev completely rejected the Chinese leader’s capitalist reforms Deng Xiapong, which showed great promise in the last years of the Soviet Union. Instead, Gorbachev tried and failed to reform Communism, by implementing a series of superficial reforms that failed to stop supply chain hoardingand does not bring real economic growth.
The experience of putting the Soviet economy on the ground did not seem to be enough to convince Gorbachev that he was wrong about capitalism. Gorbachev continues to be found International Green Cross in 1993, after 1992 Earth Summit in Rio.
When the Iron Curtain fell, all we thought about was that we won. Our ideas, liberty and capitalism, may eventually spill to the East and liberate the peoples of the countries of the former Soviet Union. We never assume that ideas flow both ways.
The collapse of the Soviet Union also gave non-reform communists like Gorbachev more opportunities to influence our politicians, attack our freedoms and infect our governments. us with their worldview.
RIP Gorbachev. I am for a person who will not miss you.
Update (EW): Marlene remind us that Gorbachev used tanks to quell dissent in Lithuania.
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