Well, as I see it, Gorbachev was one of those who wanted to "awaken from the nightmare of history." A man of reason who couldn't understand why things couldn't be reasonable, like, say, converting the Russian empire into a bigger Sweden. A failure of the imagination,
you might say. Nightmare wasn't interested; Nightmare doesn't give up so easily; Nightmare has lots of friends and relatives, both inside and out. So things didn't work out so well. Indeed, not well at all. Nightmare says, "Well, at least these days I'm not marching millions of people off to death camps." A kinder and gentler Nightmare, at least for the moment.
About all Gorbachev got was someone in Germany wrote "Danke, Gorbi" on a wall. And I wrote the following poem:
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Greeting-Card Verse, 1989 (you guys have these over in Russia too, right?)
It was another world. All anyone said about him in the Chicago clubs was - Hey, great guy who helped trash the Wall - or - Why doesn't he get rid of that birthmark, it's pretty easy to do!....Photos of the breadlines, the dilapidated, poorly constructed buildings followed. Corrupt multinational oligarchs, much like the carpetbaggers after the Civil War, took advantage and accrued great wealth. Mikhail got a comfy pension, protection and relative peace. The West respected him, and Russia at least acknowledged "good intentions". But, without his weakness and ineptitude, The Russian people would not have freed themselves of the Soviet yoke, and their country would not be the beautiful place it is today
Gorbachev accomplished a great deal, most especially a huge reduction in nuclear arms and the end of the bloody conflict in Afghanistan. Most of the economic chaos that is blamed on him came after Yeltsin essentially stabbed him in the back. His biggest failure was trusting "western" assurances, but it is interesting to note that many of those - like the US ambassadors at the time - have loudly complained about how they, too, were lied to as they gave them in good faith.
Well, as I see it, Gorbachev was one of those who wanted to "awaken from the nightmare of history." A man of reason who couldn't understand why things couldn't be reasonable, like, say, converting the Russian empire into a bigger Sweden. A failure of the imagination,
you might say. Nightmare wasn't interested; Nightmare doesn't give up so easily; Nightmare has lots of friends and relatives, both inside and out. So things didn't work out so well. Indeed, not well at all. Nightmare says, "Well, at least these days I'm not marching millions of people off to death camps." A kinder and gentler Nightmare, at least for the moment.
About all Gorbachev got was someone in Germany wrote "Danke, Gorbi" on a wall. And I wrote the following poem:
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Greeting-Card Verse, 1989 (you guys have these over in Russia too, right?)
They say that
unimagineable things
have happened
in the East:
that the sky is blue,
that the dogs are still,
that the wire fences
bow down in the snow
gracefully
offering apology —
Who knows
what we will see
when spring returns?
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Well, we found out, didn't we? But thanks for trying, Gorbi,
and good luck with your next project.
It was another world. All anyone said about him in the Chicago clubs was - Hey, great guy who helped trash the Wall - or - Why doesn't he get rid of that birthmark, it's pretty easy to do!....Photos of the breadlines, the dilapidated, poorly constructed buildings followed. Corrupt multinational oligarchs, much like the carpetbaggers after the Civil War, took advantage and accrued great wealth. Mikhail got a comfy pension, protection and relative peace. The West respected him, and Russia at least acknowledged "good intentions". But, without his weakness and ineptitude, The Russian people would not have freed themselves of the Soviet yoke, and their country would not be the beautiful place it is today
Gorbachev accomplished a great deal, most especially a huge reduction in nuclear arms and the end of the bloody conflict in Afghanistan. Most of the economic chaos that is blamed on him came after Yeltsin essentially stabbed him in the back. His biggest failure was trusting "western" assurances, but it is interesting to note that many of those - like the US ambassadors at the time - have loudly complained about how they, too, were lied to as they gave them in good faith.