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RIP, Mikhail Gorbachev
I have had a soft spot for Gorbachev ever since the occasion — probably after the last Reykjavik meeting — when the elderly Reagan was startled by the press lights flashing, and Gorbachev very graciously took our President by the elbow and led him away from the crowd.
It was a touching sign of respect, particularly after Reagan had crushed Gorbachev in negotiations and effectively brought on the end of the Soviet Union.
RIP
Published in General
I have liked Gorbachev ever since Reagan took him to an American grocery store where he openly expressed his amazement at all the choices contained therein.
That said, although the end of the Soviet Union looked good at the time, it also upset the world-wide balance of power the two nations had been able to sustain since the end of WWII. Hence, our obsession with the Middle East along with all its difficulties.
Oil also reared its ugly head as the practical Soviets simply used it to fuel its own needs and willingly sold it on the world market while we, with just as much oil, used the environment as an excuse to lock up one of the largest oilfields in the world in the arctic. We weren’t content to simply end Soviet expansion, our foreign policy has been dominated by generals who wish to obliterate Russia and give little credence to it’s long history.