There is an almost Shakespearean tragic quality about the late Soviet leader’s 1985-90 time in power, writes Tony Kevin. But Russian historians of the future may have reason to treat him kindly.
When Gorbachev’s Luck Ran Out
Tag: Ronald Reagan
Chris Hedges: Stop Pretending US Is a Functioning Democracy
There are no institutions, including the press, an electoral system, the imperial presidency, the courts or the penal system, that can be defined as democratic. Only the fiction of democracy remains.
US LABOR DAY: Central American Migrants & US Labor History
Worker wins at Amazon and Starbucks recall a previous period of union success, writes Elizabeth Oglesby.
Confronting Colombia’s Inequality
SCOTT RITTER: Sometimes Humanity Gets it Right
Disarmament in the time of Perestroika spotlights the pivotal contributions of U.S.-Soviet inspectors in helping to complete the 1988 INF treaty, which took effect after a period of bilateral tensions that could be considered more severe than those of today.
Is Nuclear Winter Coming?
Six scientists, including Carl Sagan, who proved nuclear war would produce “nuclear winter” were at first dismissed by the establishment. On Saturday they will receive an award as the world is the closest to nuclear war since 1962.
Britain Helped US Cover Up Downing of Iranian Airliner
In 1988, a U.S. Navy warship shot down an Iranian airliner, killing all 290 civilians on board. Newly declassified files show how Margaret Thatcher’s government offered immediate support to the U.S. and assisted in the cover-up, John McEvoy reports.
Chris Hedges: Worthy & Unworthy Victims
The life of a Palestinian or an Iraqi child is as precious as the life of a Ukrainian child. No one should live in fear and terror. No one should be sacrificed on the altar of Mars.
PATRICK LAWRENCE: ‘Primacy or World Order’
Stanley Hoffmann doesn’t mention “multipolarity” in his book—maybe the term wasn’t yet in use—but it is precisely the world he was telling Americans about back in 1978 and that is today coming to pass.
Ukraine Crisis Should Have Been Avoided
An avoidable crisis that was predictable, actually predicted, willfully precipitated, but easily resolved by the application of common sense, writes Jack Matlock, the last U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R.