The Russian Liberator
"The country was loaded to the brim with weapons. And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war [had he attempted to restrain satellite Soviet nations from freeing themselves from the grip of the Soviet Union].""I see myself as a man who started the reforms that were necessary for the country and for Europe and the world.""I consider the decision of your Committee [Nobel Peace Prize] as a recognition of the great international importance of the changes now under way in the Soviet Union, and as an expression of confidence in our policy of new thinking, which is based on the conviction that at the end of the 20th century force and arms will have to give way to a major instrument in world [affairs]."Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
This photo taken in July 1991 shows then-U.S. president George Bush, left, and Gorbachev during a press conference in Moscow concluding the U.S.-Soviet Summit dedicated to disarmament. (Mike Fisher/AFP/Getty Images) |
A
born conciliator, Mikhail Gorbachev was, nonetheless, a committed
Communist and as supreme leader of the Soviet Union he had the authority
to match his desire to update the USSR, to loosen some of its
strictures on personal freedoms of its citizens with his intentions. He
wanted to create an atmosphere that would be conducive to opening
markets to expansion as well, to lift the USSR out of poverty and begin
to institute reforms to bring economic stability to the empire he ruled.
Never might he have imagined that his forthright admission the USSR was
mired in a straitjacket of tyranny but it must be preserved and
altered, would lead to its dissolution.
His
intention was to salvage the empire he saw crumbling around him, one
that he was committed to, but could nonetheless envision the beneficial
effects of instituting new and looser structures within the command
perimeter. His vision was flawed only by his inability to foresee the
near future. He was celebrated globally for his previously unheard-of
efforts to open a closed society to scrutiny and change and to begin
fostering improved relations with the West.
Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987 Getty Images |
His
legacy, when the dust settled, was to inspire Soviet satellites to
break the mould of control and dependence the Soviet Union had trapped
them in, and one after the other they responded to Mr. Gorbachev's
goodwill by abandoning their satellite roles and declaring their
internationally recognized sovereign political rights as separate
nations. The Eastern European colossus faltered, failed and fell under
the executive decision-making that gave hope to tens of millions of
non-Russians and astonished and disappointed millions of Russians.
When
Mr. Gorbachev realized he had walked into a trap of his own oblivious
making, it was too late to try to stop the bleeding. And nor could he
consider from a humanitarian standpoint, exerting the power and strength
of Russia to staunch the bleeding. For, as he reminisced years later,
he feared chaos erupting in the nuclear-armed country and the resulting
loss of untold numbers of lives.
The
end of the Cold War era of mutual fear and suspicion and
mutual-assured-destruction that teetered more than once on the edge of
loosing nuclear weapons, brought a Nobel Peace Prize to this man who
watched in dismay as his tentative steps toward loosening restrictions
and out-facing corruption, transformed his benign intentions into a
rapid decline of the empire he had inherited for a brief period but had
in that briefest of periods, completely upturned; not only the USSR but
Eastern Europe and the entire international community.
Russian
politicians and the ordinary Russian-on-the-street all held Mr.
Gorbachev responsible for the dismantling of the Soviet Union through
his "Glasnost" and "Perestroika" (openness and restructuring)
initiatives. In the process, he freed political prisoners, permitted
open debate and multi-candidate elections. Russians were granted the
freedom to travel, religious persecution was brought to a halt. He
reduced nuclear arsenals and established closer ties with the West. When
Eastern European satellite states shed their Communist regimes, he did
nothing in reaction.
Putin pays his last respects near the coffin of Gorbachev at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow on Thursday. (Russian pool/The Associated Press) |
With
these releases of the Soviet tentacles on satellite states, came an
increase in ethnic tensions and resentments. In his later years, this
man who substantially changed the world order in his time both
criticized and praised the current Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
Who, on assuming power from Mr. Gorbachev's former protege, Boris
Yeltsin, set about dismantling all of Mr. Gorbachev's and Mr. Yeltsin's
democratic achievements.
Mr.
Gorbachev was invested in avoiding war. Mr. Putin's attitude was that
war was necessary to begin the task of re-establishing the satellite
network among Russia's unwilling neighbours in its near-abroad, which
once formed part of its powerful empire. In his later years, an ailing
Mr. Gorbachev retreated from public view and had less to say about his
nation's politics. At age 91 he was admitted in failing health to the
Central Clinical Hospital where he died after a long illness, two days
ago.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, listens to former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev during a news conference in Schleswig, Germany, Dec. 21, 2004. Gorbachev died Tuesday. (Christian Charisius/Reuters) |
Labels: Former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev, Glasnost, Perestroika, Russian Federation, USSR, Vladimir Putin
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