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Mikhail Gorbachev has died

(www.reuters.com)
970 points homarp | 2 comments | 30 Aug 22 20:37 UTC | HN request time: 0.425s | source
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lapcat ◴[30 Aug 22 21:07 UTC] No.32655071[source]▶
The United States didn't do enough to help Russia transition to democracy in the 1990s. There was no "Marshall Plan" after the Cold War like there was after World War II. This was a huge mistake, and we see the consequences now, with Russia having turned back toward totalitarianism and imperialism. Sadly, it seems that Gorbachev's efforts were mostly for naught. But it was courageous at the time to open up the Soviet Union to glasnost and perestroika.

Of course Yeltsin was a big part of the problem too.

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1. htowieuro234 ◴[31 Aug 22 01:23 UTC] No.32657263[source]▶
You realize it was the Americans under Yeltsin who basically destroyed Russian economy right ? I'm fairly sure Russian children weren't prostituting themself because the US "missed their mark" and were led astray by "corrupt Asiatics" (not being facile here; this is standard argument put out by Western "intellectuals" today - which says a lot about the deep hate for Asia.).

I imagine Russians slyly and sarcastically saying, to the typically non-ironically self-righteous Westerner, "oh the Americans did plenty; plenty indeed; we really wish they didn't".

Much of the global south holds much the same opinion IMO. Frankly, I'm shocked at the state of disconnect in the West. The kind of petulant idiocy displayed by the usual eminences when the majority of the world did not play along - much like they didn't play along when the US-West attacked god-knows how many countries now - was less suitable even of a pouty teenager.

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2. hetman ◴[31 Aug 22 05:10 UTC] No.32658593[source]▶
What serious intellectuals in the West are making statements about "corrupt Asiatics" today? This is clearly taken directly from some kind of propagandist talking sheet because anyone making this claim clearly understands nothing about the West of today.

It's ironic that we can talk about Western petulance but ignore the petulance of the Russian Federation when their outrageous demands were not met by their neighbours.