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Gorbachev calls on Obama to carry out 'perestroika' in the U.S. | ||||||
2008-11-10 | ||||||
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has said that the Obama administration in the United States needs far-reaching 'perestroika' reforms to overcome the financial crisis and restore balance in the world.
"The paradigm of global development is about to change. The era inaugurated by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher 30 years ago is over." He said decisions in neoliberal economies had been made mainly by supranational institutions and transnational corporations. Khodorkovsky predicted: "Globalization will slow to a crawl, but will not stop. The 'golden billion' of the world's richest people will have to abandon hopes of increasing their wealth, but high consumer standards which developed at the end of the 20th century will be unaffected by the change. The striving for political freedom and open competition of personalities and ideas will not disappear." | ||||||
Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
#14 Advice from the most irrelevant (I'm sure most Russians under 20 wouldn't recognize the name) man in Russia. |
Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-11-10 12:32 |
#13 Gorby's what you might call a useful idiot except he was useful to us, not them. But now that he's served his purpose it's important to remember that he is still an idiot. |
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2008-11-10 12:16 |
#12 To me, the furthest separation of all three is better. They are making a place where there is no way you can "agree to disagree", no choice, and no freedom. Political control of the economy will be a disaster (see 100 million murdered by Marx worshippers). Political control of "morality" is a disaster (see the War on Drugs, the Taliban, and the Kingdoms Morality police). |
Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2008-11-10 11:07 |
#11 By 'Perestroika', he means 'weaken'. Don't worry Gorbi, Obama will weaken the US plenty before he is done. |
Posted by: DarthVader 2008-11-10 11:02 |
#10 Gorbachev hasn't drunk himself to death yet? And a unity of politics, economics and morality sounds like the classic definition of fascism to me... |
Posted by: Mitch H. 2008-11-10 10:33 |
#9 WTF, "Mexico" is a new world player, then why can't they keep their people in that Worker's Paradise"? |
Posted by: Hammerhead 2008-11-10 09:52 |
#8 Gorbachev, having made his own contribution to the fall of the Soviet Union, wants to do the same to the US. |
Posted by: WilliamMarcyTweed 2008-11-10 09:08 |
#7 Putin's big mistake is the classic Russian argument of beans vs. bullets. Putin assumed that capitalism would take care of the beans argument, so he could concentrate on bullets. But in this he was mistaken. The end result is that he is trying to built a steel superstructure on a wooden hull. Instead, he should have applied himself to first and foremost, encouraging more Russians to have a lot of children. And while every Russian leader tries to do this, usually it is in ineffectual ways, like giving prizes or awards for having children. Instead he should have built new cities just for young couples, to make a baby boom. |
Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-11-10 08:54 |
#6 The era inaugurated by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher 30 years ago is over." At lease we can agree on one thing. |
Posted by: Besoeker 2008-11-10 07:39 |
#5 but high consumer standards which developed at the end of the 20th century will be unaffected by the change. Brought about by free trade, but by the means of Obama magic, can be continued by protectionism. The striving for political freedom and open competition of personalities and ideas will not disappear." I'm sure in some alternative reality that makes sense. Former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, founder of now defunct Yukos oil giant, who is in prison on fraud and tax evasion charges, What a surprise! |
Posted by: tipper 2008-11-10 07:20 |
#4 "a new model of a society, where politics, economics and morals went hand in hand." Sounds like Russia today, but not in the way he means, I'm sure. |
Posted by: no mo uro 2008-11-10 05:19 |
#3 and that the White House needs to restore trust in cooperation with the United States among the Russians. IIUC, reading and listening to people I trust like Françoise Thom, not the putin-zombies of the french right, my understanding is that the new deal in russia is a massive and concerted effort by the power through the various media, academia, entertainment, paramilitary youth movements,... to : 1) re-abilitate stalin's memory as one of the greatest russian leaders (second to czar putin, of course), and whitewash and excuse his crimes against the russian people among others by 2) painting foreign powers, and most notably the West and the USA in particular (western Europe is depicted as africanized and decadent, which actually is pretty accurate) as perennial ennemies o the Motherland, always plotting and scheming against it, and so entities to be hated and feared (thank god the Fearless Leader is here to protect the russian people). The national-communist-imperialist russia of putin is gearing up for war, if not in the armed forces, at least in the massification of the public opinion (apparently, there is a much more uniformized hatred of the West and the USa now than during the soviet era, when the official propaganda was not believed by most). Remember, the collapse of th eUSSR was the "greatest tragedy of the 20th century", russia has been "humiliated" (by the collpase of the communist mepire, think about it), russia has a natural "vital space" and "spheres of influence" which are being trampled on by the USA, which are trying to "surround it" (notably through the Color Revolutions, all Cia-plots),... And the America-hating wingnuts in France are eating it up like candy, by the way. So, this really is doubletalk, as russia itself is not interested at all by "restoring trust", quite the opposite. |
Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-11-10 05:00 |
#2 was not interested in "a new model of a society, where politics, economics and morals went hand in hand." Big BS alert: gorby was and most probably still is (though he's now a watermelon) a bona fide commie. Perestroika & glasnost were no reforms "where politics, economics and morals went hand in hand" aimed at abolishing the communist state apparatus, in fact, it was quite the opposite, they were aimed at making it sustainable, so it could go on. Make some changes at the margins and make it more efficient, so to prevent collapse (didn't work out, thanksfully). And gorby was no liberal neither, his goal was to have a convergence with the then EEC (cf. Bukosky's claim) and so expel US influence fom the so-called "european home". So, really, having a real-life, unreformed commie apparatchik lecture the USA about "morals" and political reform is pretty funny, should be infuriating, but, well, we ARE living in bizarro world, aren't we? |
Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-11-10 04:47 |
#1 I call that big talk for a man with a map of Poland on his forehead. |
Posted by: Pliny the Middle-aged 2008-11-10 03:03 |