shades fills you in

On August 30, 2022 former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev died. He oversaw the end of the Cold War and the USSR

He was born in 1931 to peasant farmers in southern Russia. After moving to Moscow for school, he ascended the ranks of the Communist Party, eventually becoming the General Secretary in 1985 -- WaPo

Gorbachev pushed “perestroika” and “glasnost” (restructuring and openness). But by the end of 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, and he lost power to Boris Yeltsin -- The WSJ

In 1990, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in nuclear disarmament. When accepting the award, he said the year marked “the end of the unnatural division of Europe”

The WSJ Ed Board says Gorbachev was a paradox: After gaining ultimate power in the Soviet regime and trying to save it, he instead oversaw its demise

And a WSJ Op says Gorbachev was the rarest form of politician. He entered office with nearly unlimited power -- and chose to give it up

Slate says Gorbachev was one of the most important political figures of the 20th century. But his big mistake was thinking he could reform the Soviet Union without forcing its collapse

Foreign Policy Magazine says he was an intellectual and eternal optimist. He tried to open the Soviet Union to Europe and refused to use the military to keep the Soviet bloc together

The Conversation Magazine says he tried to save the Soviet Union by launching a revolution from above. He failed spectacularly -- the Soviet Union quickly collapsed, as did its socialist economy

Hey now, let’s not forget he was a tyrant leading an evil empire, says National Review. Still, it was pretty cool how he accepted the end of the Soviet Union with grace and without bloodshed

Back in 2016, The NYT reported that he was deeply unpopular in Putin’s Russia. Many blamed him for the collapse of the Soviet Union and for Russia’s poor economy

Gorbachev’s divisive legacy is revealed in this... Pizza Hut ad?

In the past two decades, Gorbachev was a critic of Putin’s authoritarianism -- and pushed for more democracy. Putin did offer his condolences on Gorbachev’s death