Essay by Eric Worrall
Mikhail Gorbachev will be remembered by most as the last leader of the Soviet Union. But he was also one of the founding architects of United Nations Climate Action Machine.
Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet leader who ended cold war, dies aged 91
Russian news agencies report death of last leader of Soviet Union at Central clinical hospital in Moscow
Andrew Roth in Moscow and Luke HardingWed 31 Aug 2022 08.19 AEST
Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader whose reforms led to the unlooked for break-up of his own country, and to the demise of communism across central and eastern Europe, has died in Moscow aged 91.
Celebrated abroad as the saviour who delivered freedom to millions of Soviet citizens, he was often blamed at home for the chaotic years that followed, and survived long enough to watch Russia return to autocracy under the rule of Vladimir Putin.
Gorbachev, who won the Nobel peace prize in 1990, had died after a “difficult and protracted illness”, Russian news agencies cited hospital officials as saying on Tuesday. Recent reports suggested he was suffering from a kidney ailment.
…
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/30/mikhail-gorbachev-dies-soviet-leader-92
Most people remember Gorbachev for his attempts to liberate the Soviet state. Gorbachev freed political dissidents, and stopped the Soviet military from crushing the insurrection in East Germany and other satellite states.
But despite his gentle handling of dissidents, Gorbachev was a communist right to the end of the Soviet Empire. Gorbachev utterly rejected the bottom up capitalist reforms of Chinese leader Deng Xiapong, which were already showing promise during the final years of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev instead attempted and failed to reform Communism, by implementing a series of superficial reforms which failed to prevent supply chain hoarding, and failed to deliver genuine economic growth.
The experience of riding the Soviet economy into the ground apparently wasn’t enough to convince Gorbachev he was wrong about capitalism. Gorbachev went on the found Green Cross International in 1993, following the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio.
When the Iron Curtain fell, all we thought about was that we had won. Our ideas, freedom and capitalism, could finally flow East and liberate the peoples of former Soviet states. We never considered that ideas flow both ways.
The fall of the Soviet Union also gave unreformed communists like Gorbachev more opportunity to influence our politicians, to attack our freedoms and infect our governments with their world view.
RIP Gorbachev. I for one won’t miss you.
Update (EW): Marlene reminds us that Gorbachev used tanks to crush dissent in Lithuania.
“While Gorbachev preached freedom & democracy for all under the Communist yoke, the reality was quite different. When Lithuania sought to regain its independence, Gorbachev showed his true colors by opposing the move with threats & brutal force & didn’t recognize the desires of Lithuanian people who saw the contradiction of a leader smashing peaceful Lithuanian protesters with his tanks while accepting the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize. What the West & Russia needed then & now is a moral regeneration. Gorbachev should be remembered as the evil man he was, not as the optimistic & unrepentant West imagined him to be”
Yep.
‘stopped the Soviet military from crushing the insurrection in East Germany and other satellite states.’
What ‘insurrection’ in East Germany?
Are we to believe that Russia (USSR) and Germany (GDR) crushed communism in Europe?
And forget when and where dismantling the Soviet system was started: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidarity_(Polish_trade_union)
“He thought that the “socialist camp” of Marxist–Leninist governed states—the Eastern Bloc” countries, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba—were a drain on the Soviet economy, receiving a far greater amount of goods from the Soviet Union than they collectively gave in return”
(from Wikipedia). So he may have not been so keen on keeping
them “in the fold” as things unwound. He also faced growing
opposition with some of the changes he was trying to make, as well
as being blamed for Chernobyl, Afghanistan & growing resistance
in E Europe. Overall, he was “riding a dying horse” which he tried to
keep riding long after it had died.
Note- use standard caution with Wiki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev
you write utter bollox.
Just put yourself in Gorby’s shoes idiot!
“Gorbachev “should be remembered not for his role in the demise of Communism but for his fortunate failure to keep Communism in power. He insists perestroika didn’t seek to defeat Socialism but to refine it—to make it more socialist. He hoped to transform the centrally-planned Soviet-style Communism into more advanced Marxist decentralization called self-managing Socialism that would result in more Socialism, not less. He was much more popular in the West than in Russia. After his fall, he was showered with gifts & prestige from the [US] liberal establishment that saw in perestroika the realization of a new kind of Socialism.
Gorby could have done a lot for Russia if he had abandoned communism &
accepted democracy instead. Since hardliners blamed him for the USSR’s
demise, he could have buried them if he had joined Yeltsin instead of opposing him. I don’t know that he ever saw communism as the total failure
that it was.
Read “New Lies for Old.” Available on Amazon.
He may not have sent tanks into every state to cruch dissent but he did send OMON teams into many of them to take out key leadership where possible – the scalpel rather than the hammer of brute force. Not one of the ‘good guys’ and, for a lot of the time, supporter of Putin although he was outspoken on the corruption that had become entrenched in Russia.
Mikhail Gorbachev the original watermelon. Green on the outside and red on the inside.
I won’t miss him either. I detest what he has wrought upon the world. We still are dealing with acolytes of his Marxist ideology.
I think Merkel was a fan along with “progressives” around the world. Why people admired him is beyond my ken.
Lot is written about Mrs. Thatcher and Gorby’s mutual admiration but not many people know that his wife Raisa fell in love with John Snow (ITN), when he interviewed her for the ITV news. John missed his opportunity to change the course of the world history.
Princess Nut Nutz didn’t though.
Apart from being a huggable/lovable oaf – what did that girl see in Boris Johnson – someone easily old enough to be her father?
By the time he’s an walking/talking heart-attack and a diabetic alcoholic womaniser, she’d be spending the last 40 years of her life alone…
Was she working for (by example) XR or Greenpeace or the CIA = the latest offensive in their Operation Feminism?
It’s working quite well innit, Feminism.
UK birthrate (a lot of Europe is similar) is now = 1.4 and the average South Korean girl is now producing less than one baby during her lifetime.
While Single White Males are now the most despised creatures that ever drew breath = the very things that Feminism creates by the shed-load – due to their ‘unreasonable behaviour’
Which as we all know extends to everything about Climate Change – despite those white males having designed, created and built the very machine that is now being used to attack them.
Perfect Insanity
”what did that girl see in Boris Johnson’ – really? You have to ask?
Russia’s Gorbachev and East Germany’s Honecker were dictators of their unfortunate countries and not worth admiring. The acerbic William Buckley at his National Review derided them as “Stain head and Shades”.
‘The emerging ‘environmentalization’ of our civilization and the need for vigorous action in the interest of the entire global community will inevitably have multiple political consequences. Perhaps the most important of them will be a gradual change in the status of the United Nations. Inevitably, it must assume some aspects of a world government.’ – M. Gorbachev
“Perhaps the most important of them will be a gradual change in the status of the United Nations. Inevitably, it must assume some aspects of a world government.’ – M. Gorbachev”
The United Nations is certainly trying to make that happen.
Free people are obliged to see that this does not happen if they want to remain free.
Yes, but the free person is up against concerted groups that have been preparing for some time.
‘The objective, clearly enunciated by the leaders of UNCED, is to bring about a change in the present system of independent nations. The future is to be World Government with central planning by the United Nations. Fear of environmental crises – whether real or not – is expected to lead to – compliance’ – Dixy Lee Ray Former liberal Democrat governor of State of Washington, U.S.:
‘The concept of national sovereignty has been immutable, indeed a sacred principle of international relations. It is a principle which will yield only slowly and reluctantly to the new imperatives of global environmental cooperation.’ – UN’s Commission on Global Governance: UN’s Commission on Global Governance:
‘Government in the future will be based upon . . . a supreme office of the biosphere. The office will comprise specially trained philosopher/ecologists. These guardians will either rule themselves or advise an authoritarian government of policies based on their ecological training and philosophical sensitivities. These guardians will be specially trained for the task.’ – David Shearman An IPCC Assessor for 3rd and 4th climate change reports:
‘A massive campaign must be launched to restore a high-quality environment in North America and to de-develop the United States…De-development means bringing our economic system (especially patterns of consumption) into line with the realities of ecology and the global resource situation…Redistribution of wealth both within and among nations is absolutely essential, if a decent life is to be provided for every human being.’ – John Holdren President Obama’s science czar:
Why does the UN not openly condemn Putin and Russia for their unprovoked attack on Ukraine ?
The answer is obvious that so many members of the UN and those holding powerful positions in the UN believe in one world government .
This whole climate change .global warming scam has been orchestrated to bring this about .
We see governments all over the world damaging their countries economies in the name of climate change with some even ignoring instructions from the UN to make things even worse .
Communism in another way. Gorbachev is laughing in his grave as The New World Order continues its way under the guise of saving the planet. UK setting up ‘warming centres’ for the coming winter.
Another communist bites the dust. The problem as I see it and the theme comes down to power and control whether in Russia or here in the USA. Gorbachev as suggested in another comment was green on the outside and red on the inside. Embracing freedom and liberty is a challenge to the “control freaks.” They simply cannot let go and have to micromanage every aspect of your life. It’s an exhaustive battle fought each day in this country to keep our communist opponents at bay.
Talk about a Red going Green!
Gorbachev contacted President George H. W. Bush during the buildup to the Gulf War, and offered to send Soviet warships to the Persian Gulf to support the effort. Bush politely declined the offer, because he thought that no one would take Mikhail’s Navy seriously.
“The fall of the Soviet Union also gave unreformed communists like Gorbachev more opportunity to influence our politicians, to attack our freedoms and infect our governments with their world view.” In that he was successful.
Communism with all it’s rights on paper is not about the people but is about personal power of a small group of people and no rights for the people except as they allow. They operate on the same mentality as the divine right of Kings.
People in the USSR were sabotaging goods produced in factories, the economy was in a shambles. Gorbachev saw the fall coming and ended it to save himself.
Which probably explains why Putin won’t be attending Gorbachev’s funeral.
Gorbachev ended the Cold War?
Somehow, it seems to me that Ronald Reagan had something to do with it.
https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/commentary/how-ronald-reagan-won-the-cold-war
Hitler ended WWII. By losing it.
He joined/was invited to join the Club of Rome. https://www.clubofrome.org/members/ which explains a lot?