[lbo-talk] Gorbachev: "I should have been as tough as Putin"

Jesse Lemisch utopia1 at attglobal.net
Wed Sep 20 10:27:36 PDT 2006


Gorby seems not to want to mention that at the time he did use armed force to deal with separatism in the Baltics (Latvia?). Interestingly, some US leftists likened him at the time to Lincoln, who would not tolerate secession.

Jesse Lemisch

----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Doss" <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com> To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 12:39 PM Subject: [lbo-talk] Gorbachev: "I should have been as tough as Putin"


> World Updates
> September 19, 2006
> "I should have been as tough as Putin" - Gorbachev
>
> MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former Soviet leader Mikhail
> Gorbachev said on Tuesday he supported tough measures
> taken by Russian President Vladimir Putin and wished
> he had adopted them.
>
> Gorbachev, whose political reforms led to the collapse
> of the communist empire, said he should have squashed
> the challenge from Boris Yeltsin, his arch-rival and
> subsequently first Russian president, by sending him
> into diplomatic exile.
>
> And he said separatist outbreaks that plagued his last
> years in power should have been crushed by taking
> their leaders to court.
>
> "I have reviewed my values and made conclusions,"
> Interfax news agency quoted the father of perestroika
> as saying during presentation of a new book "In the
> Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party".
>
> "I now support Putin as far as resorting to tough
> measures to maintain stability is concerned," he said.
>
>
> Putin, who succeeded Yeltsin in 2000, has moved to
> restore Kremlin control over Russia, lost in the first
> post-Soviet decade marked by unending political crises
> and economic hardships for the majority of the
> population.
>
> In achieving his goals, Putin has subdued political
> opposition and put political forces, government and
> regional administrations under strong Kremlin control
> triggering Western fears that Russia could be
> backtracking on democracy.
>
> In the past Gorbachev has reacted cautiously to
> Putin's policies.
>
> Gorbachev had earlier said that the destruction of the
> Soviet Union in late 1991, spearheaded by Yeltsin, was
> an unnecessary shock to the nation rather than a help
> in achieving liberal goals.
>
> "Yeltsin should have been sent away to a diplomatic
> post," he added. "Separatists should have been hit --
> I mean confronted with criminal responsibility rather
> than attacked with machineguns."
>
> Copyright © 2005 Reuters
>
>
http://thestaronline.com/news/story.asp?file=/2006/9/20/worldupdates/2006-09 -19T203256Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-268326-1&sec=Worldupdates
>
> Lyubo, bratsy, lyubo, lyubo, bratsy, zhit!
>
> ËÞÁÎ, ÁÐÀÒÖÛ, ËÞÁÎ, ËÞÁÎ, ÁÐÀÒÖÛ, ÆÈÒÜ!
>
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