Mikhail Gorbachev, the man who changed the world
Few statesmen in history have ushered in such sweeping change as Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader and a great visionary who sought to reshape his country and the world.
Even fewer have brought about the fundamental transformation of their own country, and revolutionized global relations too, without war, social upheaval or, indeed, any major violence at all.
But Mr. Gorbachev, who died Tuesday, lived long enough to witness his greatest legacy, the peaceful unwinding of the USSR into 15 sovereign nation states, being destroyed. The current war in Ukraine is a violent effort by Mr. Gorbachev’s successors to overturn the post-Soviet settlement, redraw the region’s borders, and impose new rules upon the global order.
Whatever world may eventually emerge from this turmoil, it is unlikely to resemble Mr. Gorbachev’s vision of a cooperative world order, mutual security, and a “common European homeland” united from Vladivostok to Lisbon.
After he left office on December 25, 1991, the giant, ramshackle superpower
