The Measure of The Man (Putin, of Course)!
"It was very obvious to us in our conversations with him that he was shocked and bewildered by what was happening [after Russian troops entered Ukraine in February] for all kinds of reasons.""He believed not just in the closeness of the Russian and Ukrainian people, he believed that those two nations were intermingled."Pavel Palazhehenko, colleague, assistant to Mikhail Gorbachev
Putin pays his last respects to former Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev Associated Press |
And
so, a world leader whose decision it was to release the shackles of a
grim ideology to allow breathing room for the people of Russia and to
reach for conciliation with the non-Communist world, whose ambition to
succeed instead led to the dissolution of a system he meant to alter,
not destroy, will be buried on Saturday minus the state funeral that
most great leaders are honoured by. His initiative to modernize and open
the Soviet Union inspired the satellite states of the USSR to declare
themselves independent.
This
dismayed him, but realizing he would have to resort to military means
to stop secession, and fearing the violent chaos that would inevitably
overtake a situation of conflict in a nuclear state, he chose to allow
events to unfold as they would. And they did, leaving Russia wounded and
alone in an Eastern Europe that triumphed over its new national
autonomies. Which also led to old ethnic and national enmities
resurfacing and with them, conflict.
His
successors reviled Mr. Gorbachev's responsibility in the breakup of the
Russian empire. For his part, former leader Gorbachev despaired over
the inept rule and drunken stupor of Boris Yeltsin, who in his trust in
and reliance upon, former KGB operative Vladimir Putin, tried to reverse
their predecessor's initiatives that freed political prisoners, allowed
Russians to travel abroad, relaxed previously untouchable Kremlin rules
and opened to the West, while agreeing to diminish Russia's nuclear
arsenal.
It was, said Vladimir Putin taking power in 2000, "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century",
mourning the passing of the USSR and the loss of its prestige and
position as a world power on par with the United States. Pavel
Palazhchenko, who acted as Mr. Gorbachev's interpreter for 37 years, (Gorbachev spoke almost flawless German and English)
travelling with him to U.S.-Soviet summits, revealed that the man he
spoke with regularly had been traumatized by the Russian invasion of
Ukraine.
And
yet another Russian figure of authority followed Mr. Gorbachev into
death. The very same week Ravil Maganov, 67, chairman of the board of
Russia's largest private oil company Lukoil, was reported to have fallen
from a hospital window in Moscow, to his death. His unfortunate death
by 'suicide' the latest in a series of businessmen to die mysteriorusly
and suddenly.
Russian state news agency TASS, wrote
of the death as a suicide in citing a source in law enforcement who
stated that the businessman was admitted to hospital following a heart
attack, and was also taking antidepressants. Six other Russian
businessman, most in the energy industry, also died in unclear
circumstances in the past few months.An epidemic of suicides linked to
conscience statements critical of the Kremlin/Putin.
Natural gas flares at a Lukoil drill rig in Russia's Caspian Sea in 2018. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters) |
Lukoil
was among a few Russian energy companies to publicly urge an end to
Russia's 'special military operation' in Ukraine. Through its chief, now
dead by 'suicide', in March called for the "immediate cessation of the armed conflict." If
you're an ordinary Russian such expressions of anti-Kremlin sympathies
can be solved by a lengthy jail sentence. If one is a high-profile
public figure, the solution to such un-Russian behaviour is more likely
to be an inexplicable, sudden death.
Three
different sources speaking on the basis of their close acquaintance
with the suicidal businessman Ravil Maganov, stated their disbelief that
he would have chosen to commit suicide. Political opponents, News
reporters, Kremlin/Putin critics, they all seem to come to unfortunate
sad ends; Dame Fortune is not kind to those who criticize Vladimir
Putin, they all share the potential for a shortened life expectancy. For
the courage of their convictions they pay a steep price.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ravil Maganov, chairman of the board of directors of oil company Lukoil, pose for a photo during an awards ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow in November 2019. On Thursday, Russian media cited sources saying the 67-year-old Maganov had died after falling out of a hospital window. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images) |
Labels: Former Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Glasnost, Perestroika, Suicidal Energy Businessman, Vladimir Putin
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