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Original poster

Mikhail Gorbachev

11 replies

WildRosie · 30/08/2022 21:55

The former USSR leader has died at the age of 91. What a shame he wasn't running Russia instead of that Putin cretin.

He was the man with whom Margaret Thatcher said "she could do business".

OP posts:
Florenz · 30/08/2022 22:12

RIP but he was not and is not a popular leader in Russia at all. People's standard of living plummeted under his leadership and that's what led to someone like Putin ending up in power. He is looked upon far more favourably in the west than he is in his own country.

SomethingOnce · 30/08/2022 22:17

I had no idea he was still with us!

SmellsLikeMiddleAgeSpirit · 30/08/2022 23:37

I thought he'd died a while ago!

RIP Gorby.
Yes, popular in the west, but less so at home. He'd never have behaved as Putin has, though, and Putin will ultimately make Russia much worse off.

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lobsterkiller · 31/08/2022 04:52

He had been in poor health for some time, which is understandable at 91. Yup we liked him in the west, but he was viewed poorly in Russia. I hope Russian history treats him kinder in time.

TeenDivided · 31/08/2022 08:19

I was in the Soviet Union when they did the attempted coup d'etat on Gorbachev. The guides were very upset that their freedom might be being lost. We saw the tanks rolling into Moscow. Later on in the holidays some people gave us flowers because we were British, and Major was one of the first leaders to come out in support of him.

FindingMeno · 31/08/2022 08:21

I have respect for Gorbachev and the part he played in making the world safer with the INF treaty.
RIP.

LookItsMeAgain · 31/08/2022 08:23

How different the world (including Russia) would be if he had been given the length of time in office that Putin has had.

May he rest now with his lovely wife Raisa. Rest in peace.

Oblomov22 · 31/08/2022 08:50

Makes me sad Russia's own view of him compared to ours as the west.

felulageller · 31/08/2022 08:50

In retrospect it's all a bit of a mess now!

The west was happy for the break up of the USSR. But we haven't lived through the long term consequences yet...

Longdistance · 31/08/2022 08:52

Putin isn’t fit to lick Gorbachev’s boots clean.

Tomikka · 31/08/2022 09:21

felulageller · 31/08/2022 08:50

In retrospect it's all a bit of a mess now!

The west was happy for the break up of the USSR. But we haven't lived through the long term consequences yet...

The current mess is aligned with Putins career.

Gorbachev opened up Russia to do business with the West.

Putin went into politics in 1991 in the Mayors office at St Petersburg and promptly went in to a mafia career ‘taxing’ oligarchs who conspired together to buy all the public bodies at rock bottom prices that were intended to be sold to the people

Putin widened the gap between rich and poor, prolonging and worsening conditions for the poorest.
History is always rewritten and Gobachev is the bad guy blamed for causing it all, because its no longer like the good old days of hardline communism

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