When the news came across my phone yesterday that Mikhail Gorbachev had died, I got a little nostalgic.
Gorbachev was the last leader of the old Soviet Union. He brought changes that ended the Cold War.
Russian news agencies announced his death. He was 91. No more details.
In my mind, I can still see Gorbachev, his wife, Raisa, Ronald and Nancy Reagan all together. The big thaw in the Cold War that had the United States and the Soviet Union close to going to real war for years.
Mikhail Gorbachev will be remembered for ending a failed political system. It just never worked. Crumbled on itself.
I read this morning that Gorbachev told a friend recently that he felt the war in Ukraine was undoing his life’s work.
It really is a tale of two different leaders. Mikhail Gorbachev and Vladimir Putin. Gorbachev worked to change things for good. Putin wants to destroy all that and get the Soviet Union back together.
The war in Ukraine rages on. Investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency will inspect Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. The Zaporizhzia plant is in the middle of the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine.
Both sides accuse the other of bombing the area. It’s increased fears of a radiation leak. The plant is now occupied by Russian forces and operated by Ukrainian workers.
This sounds terrible. Those investigators will likely have to pass through areas of active fighting. No ceasefire expected.
Six months into this thing. No end in sight.
I think about what Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan accomplished. It was a big deal. The world felt safer for a time. I wish we could feel that way again.