←back to thread

Mikhail Gorbachev has died

(www.reuters.com)
970 points homarp | 2 comments | 30 Aug 22 20:37 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
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.

replies(64): >>32655130 #>>32655132 #>>32655148 #>>32655171 #>>32655208 #>>32655210 #>>32655213 #>>32655216 #>>32655220 #>>32655250 #>>32655277 #>>32655379 #>>32655385 #>>32655397 #>>32655429 #>>32655455 #>>32655478 #>>32655495 #>>32655531 #>>32655556 #>>32655561 #>>32655593 #>>32655659 #>>32655665 #>>32655728 #>>32655739 #>>32655805 #>>32655833 #>>32655891 #>>32655943 #>>32655957 #>>32655967 #>>32655988 #>>32655989 #>>32655995 #>>32656055 #>>32656063 #>>32656083 #>>32656097 #>>32656101 #>>32656343 #>>32656419 #>>32656578 #>>32656655 #>>32656671 #>>32656849 #>>32656968 #>>32656998 #>>32657100 #>>32657198 #>>32657263 #>>32657318 #>>32657872 #>>32657920 #>>32657940 #>>32658274 #>>32658285 #>>32658654 #>>32658705 #>>32658804 #>>32658817 #>>32659007 #>>32659408 #>>32659688 #
nivenkos ◴[31 Aug 22 08:20 UTC] No.32659688[source]▶
The US actively supported Yeltsin and paved the way for Putin.

This is what they wanted.

And it's working wonders now - the US will make a fortune off of LNG and arms sales, whilst completely destroying competing European industry which suffers gas shortages and uncompetitive energy prices.

It's a masterful long-term play.

replies(1): >>32660269 #
1. rkuska ◴[31 Aug 22 10:01 UTC] No.32660269[source]▶
This is how every conspiracy starts I think. Others believing that people in power have these plans laid out several decades in advance. Where in reality their plans (in democratic world) only spans several years (their active mandate).

Nobody can foresee the future. US supported Yeltsin because that was something that made sense in a given time for them. They didn't do this because they expected to make ton of money in 2022 of LNG and arms sales.

Now they were given opportunity to make some $ which also coincidence with their own interests.

But they are not able to tell what impact will this have in another 20-30 years. They do it because it makes the most sense now. Not because they have this super masterful long term play.

replies(1): >>32660375 #
2. nivenkos ◴[31 Aug 22 10:22 UTC] No.32660375[source]▶
I more meant that they didn't want to help, because they want an enemy, not an ally.

Someone to point to and keep the military and intelligence agency funding flooding in.