{"id":228896,"date":"2022-08-31T16:09:44","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T10:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=228896"},"modified":"2022-09-09T13:22:45","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T07:52:45","slug":"gorbachev-and-gotabaya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gorbachev-and-gotabaya\/","title":{"rendered":"Gorbachev And Gotabaya\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sarath De Alwis<\/a> –<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Sarath de Alwis<\/p><\/div>\n

Mikhail Gorbachev has died at the age of 91. On the day Gorbachev died, we saw a Black Uniformed Law enforcer telling \u201cAnthare Protestors”, \u201cYou can hold meetings. No demonstrations\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who study history know that history repeats. Those who do not know history repeat history. Those who think that they make history take a special delight in repeating the demonstrated follies of history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gorbachev explained how he shepherded the tyrannical Soviet Union\u2019s Monolith towards an open society he explained himself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“I began these reforms, and my guiding stars were freedom and democracy, without bloodshed. So, the people would cease to be a herd led by a shepherd. They would become citizens,”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Did he really intend that? I doubt. There was nothing wrong with the repressive machinery of the Russian state. Gorbachev\u2019s problem unlike his predecessors was that he understood hunger. People in the Bolshevik monolith were always hungry for freedom. That did not bother the party or party bosses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time Gorbachev arrived people were hungry not so much for freedom but for food. Gorbachev knew why. The economy had passed the stage of fragile. It was heading to total collapse. Something dramatic and fundamental had to be done to prevent a headlong hurtle into the abyss. \u00a0 <\/span>He recognized the need for a \u201csystem change\u201d – Perestroika.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To effect \u2018System Change\u2019 he launched \u2018Glasnost\u2019 or “Transparency and Accountability” which meant that the political elite and the state apparatus could not maintain business as usual or what we call the status quo. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Until the very end he wanted to save the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Baltic States Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia could not avoid bloodshed in their quest for freedom.<\/p>\n

When confronted with the choice of letting go or crushing the Baltics \u2018Aragalaya’ Mikhail Gorbachev decided to be a human being.\u00a0<\/span>It was a superhuman leap for a dictator.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n