This is a different take on Mikhail Gorbachev, who died this week. Click on the link and read the short article. I found it to be very interesting.
Thursday 1 September 2022 – The Monocle Minute | Monocle:
Gorbachev will be remembered internationally as the architect of a peaceful revolution but that’s not the view here in Estonia. Was he a good man? The answer is no. I believe that Gorbachev was an evil man, like every Soviet leader before him. He rose to the top by playing by the same rules as Stalin, Brezhnev and others. If he had had his way, the Soviet Union would have continued in a “refurbished” fashion and occupied nations – such as Estonia – wouldn’t have seen freedom until today. Luckily for us, he was a klutz.
Gorbachev will be remembered in such polar opposite ways by so many people. Arnold Schwarzenegger remembered Gorbachev as having the wisdom and courage to dismantle the Soviet Union, so many others saw him as an opportunist who simply took advantage of the prevailing wind of thought. It is unfortunate that no matter how one sees the man himself, or his perceived motivation, what we now know as Russia has simply taken on a new mantel made of the pieces of the old cloak that was discarded under his reign.
Just a rambling thought….