Mikhail Gorbachev was a decent man — too decent to be the leader of his country, a fact that is more obvious than ever today.He tried to reform the USSR, eventually to democratize it, but was overwhelmed by the people and forces he freed.
Gorbachev was extraordinarily optimistic and self-assured, perhaps to a fault. How else can we explain his confidence that he could bring freedom to a country that had never known democracy? Even though he grew up under a totalitarian regime that turned citizens against each other, Gorbachev trusted too much in the Soviet peoples’ capacity to govern themselves
Gorbachev was extraordinarily optimistic and self-assured, perhaps to a fault. How else can we explain his confidence that he could bring freedom to a country that had never known democracy? Even though he grew up under a totalitarian regime that turned citizens against each other, Gorbachev trusted too much in the Soviet peoples’ capacity to govern themselves