Like Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the other proponents of the Enlightenment, Gorbachev operated on the principle that people, by nature, are good, and it is only society that makes them bad. If you give a person freedom, they will use it for good. The root of his mistakes lay in this faith. But it is the only faith that we should share.
It’s hard to imagine Moscow being able to convince the rest of the world that its attempts to reinvent the global monetary system are an improvement on the tried and tested convenience of reserve currencies. Accordingly, Russian companies will have to accept all the additional risks and expense inherent to dubious schemes to avoid using the dollar and euro.
The Soviet Union under Gorbachev was more free than Russia today. Back then, it was thanks to him that we had something we do not have right now: hope for a better future and faith that there is a way out of all this.
Putin isn’t just Russia’s problem; he’s a problem for the rest of the world, too. And the only way for the world to solve that problem is by joining forces with Russians living in Europe and democratic-minded nationals inside Russia.
If everything continues the way it is going in Nagorno-Karabakh, for the Armenians Russia will become the ally that couldn’t protect it, while for the Azeris it will be the mediator that did the enemy’s bidding.
A social media post by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warning that northern Kazakhstan could be next in line after Ukraine was quickly taken down, but it reflects the mindset of Russian hawks and is entirely in keeping with Russian political dialogue, where few taboos remain.
In Russia’s strategic calculus, Europe’s dependence on Russian gas means European governments must either face a severe economic and political crisis at home this winter, or call a truce in their confrontation with Moscow, accommodating some of the Kremlin’s political demands on Ukraine, and lifting sanctions.
