...What happened in Central Europe in 1989 hastened the end of the Soviet Union. Just a few months later, the Baltic states declared their independence. In Central Europe, Gorbachev and his colleagues had been robbed of the precious illusion that '89 could be a happier replay of the Prague Spring of '68, with reformist leaderships building "socialism with a human face" in Prague, Berlin, Warsaw, and Budapest. Now they were swiftly deprived of another illusion. In relation to the Soviet Union's external empire, in what was then usually called Eastern Europe, Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Gerasimov had wittily enunciated a replacement for the old Brezhnev Doctrine. He called it the Sinatra Doctrine, slightly misquoting the old crooner: "You do it your way," he said. The Gorbachev leadership, however, still thought the Sinatra Doctrine could be applied to the extended empire but denied to the internal empire-that is, to the constituent parts of the Soviet Union itself. Where the Baltic states led, the republics of the Transcaucasus, Ukraine, and, most important, Russia under Boris Yeltsin would follow.
Source: http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/digest/001/ash.html
Remember that great Fleetwood Mac number by Lindsey Buckingham ?
Loving you Isn't the right thing to do How can I ever change things That I feel
If I could Maybe I'd give you my world How can i When you won't take it from me
You can go your own way Go your own way You can call it Another lonely day You can go your own way Go your own way
Tell me why Everything turned around Packing up Shacking up is all you wanna do
If I could Baby I'd give you my world Open up Everything's waiting for you
You can go your own way Go your own way You can call it Another lonely day You can go your own way Go your own way