\n
\n
BERLIN, Aug 31 (AP) \u2014 Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union and for many the man who restored democracy to then-communist-ruled European nations, was saluted Wednesday as a rare leader who changed the world and for a time brought hope for peace among the superpowers.<\/p>\n
But the man who died Tuesday at 91 was also reviled by many countrymen who blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union and its diminution as a superpower. The Russian nation that emerged from its Soviet past shrank in size as 15 new nations were created.<\/p>\n
The loss of pride and power also eventually led to the rise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has tried for the past quarter-century to restore Russia to its former glory and beyond.<\/p>\n
U.S. President Joe Biden praised Gorbachev for being open to democratic changes. Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter decades of brutal political repression, he embraced democratic reforms. He believed in glasnost and perestroika \u2013 openness and restructuring \u2013 not as mere slogans, but as the path forward for the people of the Soviet Union after so many years of isolation and deprivation,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n
Biden added that \u201cthese were the acts of a rare leader \u2013 one with the imagination to see that a different future was possible and the courage to risk his entire career to achieve it. The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Gorbachev was widely feted abroad, he was a pariah at home. Putin acknowledged that Gorbachev had \u201ca deep impact on the course of world history.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe led the country during difficult and dramatic changes, amid large-scale foreign policy, economic and social challenges,\u201d Putin said in a short telegram sending his condolences to Gorbachev\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
Gorbachev \u201crealized that reforms were necessary and tried to offer his solutions to the acute problems,\u201d Putin said.<\/p>\n
Reactions from Russian officials and lawmakers were mixed. They applauded Gorbachev for his part in ending the Cold War but censured him for the collapse of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
Oleg Morozov, a member of the main Kremlin party, United Russia, said Gorbachev should have \u201crepented\u201d for mistakes that went against Russia\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a willing or an unwilling co-author of the unfair world order that our soldiers are now fighting on the battlefield,\u201d Morozov said, in a reference to Russia\u2019s current war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Lech Walesa, the leader of Poland\u2019s pro-democracy Solidarity movement in the 1980s and the country\u2019s president from 1990-1995, had a more nuanced view of Gorbachev. He said he \u201cadmired, even liked him, but did not understand (him).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe believed to the last that communism could be reformed, but I, on the contrary, did not believe it was possible,\u201d Walesa told the Wirtualna Polska media.<\/p>\n
Walesa added: \u201cHe knew that the Soviet Union could not last much longer and he was doing everything he could to prevent the world from bringing Russia to account for communism. And he was successful there.\u201d<\/p>\n
World leaders paid tribute to a man some described as a great and brave leader.<\/p>\n
In Germany, where Gorbachev is considered one of the fathers of the country\u2019s reunification in 1990 and is popularly referred to as \u201cGorbi,\u201d former Chancellor Angela Merkel saluted him as \u201ca unique world politician.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGorbachev wrote world history. He exemplified how a single statesman can change the world for the better,\u201d she said, recalling how she had feared that Russian tanks might roll into East Germany, where she lived, as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.<\/p>\n
Current German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised Gorbachev for paving the way for his country\u2019s reunification, though he also pointed out that Gorbachev died at a time when many of his achievements have been destroyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that he died at a time when not only democracy in Russia has failed \u2014 there is no other way to describe the current situation there \u2014 but also Russia and Russian President Putin are drawing new trenches in Europe and have started a horrible war against a neighboring country, Ukraine,\u201d Scholz said.<\/p>\n
Other European leaders picked up on that contrast between Gorbachev\u2019s fame for peace-making and Putin\u2019s attack on Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that \u201cin a time of Putin\u2019s aggression in Ukraine, (Gorbachev\u2019s) tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gorbachev\u2019s \u201cdesire for peace, his opposition to an imperialist vision of Russia, earned him a Nobel prize,\u201d Italian Premier Mario Draghi said. \u201cThey are messages that are even more relevant in the face of the tragedy of the invasion of Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others in Europe challenged the positive recollections of Gorbachev.<\/p>\n
Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania\u2019s top diplomat who is also the son of Vytautas Landsbergis, who led Lithuania\u2019s independence movement in the early 1990s, tweeted that \u201cLithuanians will not glorify Gorbachev.\u201d<\/p>\n
Memories are still fresh in the Baltic country of Jan. 13, 1991, when hundreds of Lithuanians headed to the television tower in Vilnius to oppose Soviet troops deployed to crush the country\u2019s bid to restore its independence. In the clashes that followed, 14 civilians were killed and more than 140 others were injured. Moscow recognized Lithuania\u2019s independence in August that year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will never forget the simple fact that his army murdered civilians to prolong his regime\u2019s occupation of our country. His soldiers fired on our unarmed protesters and crushed them under his tanks. That is how we will remember him,\u201d Landsbergis wrote.<\/p>\n
But another Baltic leader, Latvian President Egils Levits, noted that Gorbachev\u2019s policies enabled the eventual independence of the three Baltic countries.<\/p>\n
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Gorbachev \u201ca one-of-a kind statesman who changed the course of history\u201d and \u201cdid more than any other individual to bring about the peaceful end of the Cold War.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world has lost a towering global leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace,\u201d the U.N. chief said.<\/p>\n
Gorbachev\u2019s contemporaries pointed to the end of the Cold War as one of his achievements.<\/p>\n
\u201cMikhail Gorbachev played a critical role in the peaceful end to the Cold War. At home, he was a figure of historical importance, but not in the way he intended,\u201d said Robert M. Gates, who headed the CIA from 1991 to 1993 and later became U.S. defense secretary.<\/p>\n
Calling Gorbachev \u201ca brave leader and great statesman,\u201d Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the last Soviet leader \u201copened the gates of the Soviet Union for the great wave of Jewish immigration to Israel in the 1990s.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Asia, Gorbachev was remembered as a leader with the courage to bring change.<\/p>\n
China recognized Gorbachev\u2019s role in healing relations between Moscow and Beijing. Gorbachev had been an inspiration to reformist thinkers in China during the late 1980s, and his visit to Beijing in 1989 marked a watershed in relations between the sides.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Gorbachev made positive contributions to the normalization of relations between China and the Soviet Union. We mourn his passing and extend our sympathies to his family,\u201d Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said.<\/p>\n
However, China\u2019s Communist Party leaders also regard Gorbachev\u2019s liberal approach as a fatal display of weakness and his moves toward peaceful coexistence with the West as a form of surrender.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BERLIN, Aug 31 (AP) \u2014 Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union and for many the man who restored democracy to then-communist-ruled European nations, was saluted Wednesday as a rare leader who changed the world and for a time brought hope for peace among the superpowers. But the man who died Tuesday at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-199335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}