Gorbachev gave Russians freedom. They rejected it.
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- BECOME A MEMBER:
/ @roman_nfkrz
Recently we lost a very important historical figure of the 20th century - the last leader of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev. He left a very controversial legacy: many people blame him for the fall of the Soviet Union and being a "sellout"; many praise him for his democratic reforms, his role in the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. However, one thing seems to be consistent: Gorbachev gets a lot of praise in the West, but Russians seem to really dislike him. Why is that the case? What was Gorbachev's impact on modern Russia? What is the link between Gorbachev and Putin? Let's talk about it and dive in deeper into the legacy of Gorby and why people like and dislike him. Smash like and sub for more content!
---------------------------------
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: / nfkrz
Instagram ► / roman_nfkrz
Twitch ► / nfkrz
---------------------------------
Outro music ► MajorLeagueWobs/Holder - D I S T A N T
Interesting thing to note: Gorbachev was both the only soviet leader to be born in the Soviet Union (rather than the Russian empire) and to outlive the Soviet Union.
Yes
lol
Also the first leader that didn’t directly participate in WWII.
Stalin was also Georgian
@@Habakuk_ Still born in the Russian Empire though. Khrushchev and Brezhnev were both born outside of modern Russia as well (in Ukraine, in Donetsk no less in the case of Khrushchev) but within the Russian Empire.
The man who outpizza'd the hut
And sold out to the west
*Out-Пицца’д the Хат
@@AbhNormal yeahhh
Yup
No one else has done it before or since.
I was born in 92, abandoned in a hospital in a post soviet country. It sends shivers down my spine to always hear about how tough the 90’s were. I can’t even imagine but I’m super lucky to be where I am today thanks to my amazing parents who happened to be doing charity work in the hospital I was born in. Thanks for another great video Roman!
What an amazing story! Thank you for sharing.
Holy shit what a story
Read that thinking wow! Just wow!
@@benitomoussoli4646 "What Putin accomplished is by far the greatest accomplishment a politician has *never* done"
I wonder how long it will be before those nice gentlemen from the FSB "invite" you to their office to explain why you apparently believe Tsar Vladimir has done less than any other politician in history.
@@benitomoussoli4646
As Roman said in the video, the economy of the USSR was on the brink of collapsing, without Gorbache's trying to reform and modernize the USSR could have lasted maybe ten more years,as another Russian vlogger said.
“Rest In Peace, and Thank you for trying.” I just really respect that send off. Acknowledging someone’s flaws while appreciating their intentions, I dig it.
100% and I think the West.... The Western corporations didn't care how and where that money was coming from.... If Gorbachev Had been allowed to pull down the nineties He would have been willing to learn from the West how to set up a system of law and order..... They could regulate slowly.... There's a reason that ordinary Russians have to be irritated with the United States after the service at Union broke up they should have had their own Marshall plan like after World War II
If the Germans and Europe and Italy had a Marshal brand and and we're able to rebuild.... after being nazis... The Soviet Union also needed a marshal plan like we did for Germany after WW2... The United States used Gorbachev as much as possible... They should have helped find the money that the KGB a GB including Putin start it to steal and put and secret accounts during the end of the Gorby era... he should have served 2 terms in the 90s Boris Yeltzin was a corrupt garbage president... He wasn't even a president he just was a figurehead of these oligarchs.... Christ there's pictures of the president of Uzbekistan....tyrant Islam Karimov had to prop him up at an official ceremony...even Lukashenko got him to sign a Union state....but Lukashenko saw Boris Yeltzin failing.... He at the very least even though hes a scumbag at the beginning he he had I mean nobody went starving..... So he had plans to become president of Russia.... and Belarus.... He had even started campaigning unofficially around the country.... But Putin and his cronies beat him to the punch.....
And who knows it might have been even scarier if Lukashenko had run...that man is out of his mind and will nuke
I honestly cant fault anyone for trying to lead their people out of communism. It can not be an easy transition and it can not be one without a lot of problems unforeseen when entering. You can not just expect a well functioning market economy from people who have led their entire lives under centrally controlled government planned industry.
@@DarrinSK That's the problem is ideology..... Socialism absolutely can work but if you find something isn't working you don't just stick to the ideology.... It has to be nimble
I remember being a young child and my grandfather (an old union man in protectionist Australia) hearing about perestroika being announced. His statement at that time is one I'll remember, "they aren't ready for that." When asked why, "They are like flowers grown in a greenhouse, you can't expect them to face a hot summers day without some assistance and expecting them not to wilt." I still wish he hadn't been right.
.
I am impressed that he understood that, but maybe I shouldn't be. Having lived in the US all my life, I don't have very much reference to Soviet life. But I did work as a salesman in the Philadelphia area in the early 1990's. At the time, Philadelphia was getting a lot of Soviet immigrants, though I suspect most of them were Jews from Ukraine, but I can't say for sure. In any case, they quickly got a reputation for being very difficult to sell. Salesmen hated get appointments with them as it was just so hard to get them to buy. But eventually we figured it out. The problem wasn't that they were that hard to sell, but rather that they were far too easy to sell. What that meant was that as soon as they got credit cards, they would max them out and then fall behind on the high interest payments. Once that happened, they couldn't buy anything that they wanted if they had to buy it on credit. Even so, they would still be happy to call out the salesmen and let them show them the products they knew they could never get.
That was pretty much my reaction at the time as well. This is a reason why democracy failed in 1917, People had grown up under the Russian Empire and thus had no experience of democracy, Of course I hoped for the best for the Russian people, but I feared that some strong man would seize control, which has happened. Believe me, I wish I'd been proven wrong.
@@harrietharlow9929 Lenin was not a "strongman" lmao
what? he was a bloody dictator buddy
@@harrietharlow9929 Sadly, when some countries are used to less freedom, it's a shock to the system. They need to receive it gradually and others from a free country guiding them.
I guess this is why the democracy movement failed after the Tiennamann square massacre. Rather than regrouping or going underground, they just gave up, probably content with the status quo. Their hearts weren't into it.
“Rest in peace, and thank you for trying.”
That quote from NFKRS should be on Gorbachev’s goddamned tombstone.
It’s infinitely better to try to do a good thing and fail then not try anything at all. Gorbachov failed but he gave Roman’s generation a chance to grow up in freedom. And a generation born free will not be enslaved.
Once a man has tasted freedom, he will never be content to be a slave - Walt Disney
Gorbachev was actually asked in an interview, "What should be on your gravestone?". His response was, "We tried.".
What I find interesting is he said "We tried" not "I tried". To me that gives me confirmation that; despite all his policies, Gorbachev genuinely wanted to continue the USSR and was never on a mission to destroy it like many people think.
A generation born into freedom and a lower life expectancy and high rate of prostitution
@@Kardia_of_Rhodes Whats kinda funny is that Gorbachev was a communist. He just believed that Marxist-Leninism could be done more freely.
I like your respectful take on Gorbachev without white washing his failures.
Honestly. This was one of the best reviews I have seen in a while about soviet union or Gorbachev himself. As a post soviet Georgian citizen I face this dilematic conflict between freedom and comfort every day. The problem is the same in Georgia.
Just don't end up siding with the Nazis.
@@brianmead7556 yea we are with Ukraine not with Russia
@@giorgijioshvili9713 you're with the Nazis not with the facists, got it
@@Tsuruchi_420 troll we are with the country that is defending it self, got it? now please stop being a Russian fanboy and touch some Grasse
@@Tsuruchi_420 Yeah Putin told us ukrainians are nazis, must be true fr fr, he wouldn't lie
13:56 “if you give your freedom away for comfort, pretty soon your comfort will be taken away too”
This hits hard.
It is a variation of what supposedly Benjamin Franklin said "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
@@spy1309 I was thinking the same exact thing. It's truly a universal truth must be understood by all.
china moment
@@spy1309 I can see what you mean. For example French revolution itself was to get comfort, but obviously it was on the steps of freedom. Which is why we can protest, choose prime ministers and not rely on autocrats. I think both comforts and freedom are good thing together. But yeah obviously, i think when it comes to nationalism then Oscar Wilde said it the best "Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious"
Sadly it's a lesson some people don't want to learn.
From what I can tell, Gorbachev seems like he genuinely did want to improve people's lives and was trying to save the Soviet Union and modernize it. It also appears that he had absolutely no idea how to go about doing that, and seemed to be throwing ideas at the wall and hoping something would work. Giving people free speech at the same time as tanking the economy was always going to be a recipe for disaster.
The problem was, the economy was going to tank regardless. He might have nudged it by few years, but that would have ended up with a *complete* collapse. Reforms were needed, but in an economy as controlled as Russia's, those reforms couldn't be staggered or incremental. The pain hits everywhere at once, rather then a rolling series of problems as different industries independently try to un-fsck themselves.
@@watchm4ker not to mention that the country was (and is) going through a horrendous demographic collaspe due to how stalins antics completely destroyed anything that statistically increases birthrate (rural living, religon, put people into cramped urban apartment without choice)
the soviet birthrate was already struggling, even if gorby have played his cards perfectly right and created a non-communist soviet state that was still somewhat unified, that demographic collaspe was still going to happen
@@sovietunion7643 Wasn't sure on that point, but it wouldn't surprise me. All in all, while he didn't make the right choices to save the Soviet Union, I don't think there WERE any "right" choices. Only more or less wrong, depending on how much of a country you wanted to survive the collapse.
And in that regard, the government didn't collapse. Most of the countries transitioned to independent states peacefully. The coup from a now bankrupt military was unsuccessful. He even relinquished power without a struggle when he was voted out.
When you see how this usually plays out across history, Gorbachev did... Not great, but not terrible.
He just sems a welintended, and actuay doing a lot of good person.
But ao not a gret politician either. And diod tuff but also, not the bad politician, becaus he wanted too much too fast without forcing russians to keep with it. Like he seriousy needed the probably stagnant mindset regarding democratic processes too, to have any democracy, an educate.
But given it semed a pretty terrible situation blowing up regardless. And giving free speech without any guidance maybe was th problem, and eduation, like transitioning?! Like i get going al in but all in. A lot with guidance and , he is a human, and seems very wel intended and dine good, but also, bad politician. Ok not bad, per se. Well he exist and didnt put yelzin in powr either.
well, not the best but atleast the most enthusiastic. And in a way, he sort of did improve many people's lives, many of ex soviet "republics" are doing quite good now, just not the ones that still hold soviet times in high regards
That was very well put together & well explained. The clips were well chosen & now I feel I understand a lot more about what Russia went through in the 90s and how it set the stage for what we see now. Thanks for the articulate inside view of a Russian millennial, a view I've personally never heard before.
Yes exactly! I could never understand why Russian people were mad at him, but now I understand they had decades of state direction and oppression, freedom felt like hell to them they were not nimble enough to adjust to the wildness of liberty and freedom.
@@aliciabell6688 i almost puked wirh all the liberty and freedom. Look the world that we live in do you still belice in freedoma nd liberty ? Do you think people deserve it with how dumb they are and all ?
Roman is not quite a millenial, he’s very young, rather gen Z or whatever is called.
@@aliciabell6688 because of the “implosion” he caused. He is seen as a servant of Western interests rather than a patriot. The whole communist block practically imploded. I’m from a former commy country (not soviet but communist) and I can tell you the difference: before 1990 we were bosth poor and not free. After 1990, we had the freedom to verbally oppose the government but that was it, we were poor as hell, all our industry got sold, the rate of unemployment and crime and corruption went up like mad. It doesn’t help tha5 the ones still in power after the fall of the Soviet Union were the same people with the same communist mentality.
That should explain the popularity Putin had and still has- what he brought to the table was stability and prosperity but also an autocratic rule (that’s the downside) . And that’s why the older generations support him, their kids (now in their 20s like Roman) were born during the good times and didn’t experience poverty and famine, they can only experience their freedom of speech being limited. Freedom doesn’t have much value if you’re starving and freezing and can’t feed your kids. Ideal is to have both but between the 90s and later decades I would not want to relive the 90s
@@Silver_Prussian oh boy, its only getting more authroritarian by the day.
I like when he said "It's gorbin' time", and then gorbed all over the USSR
Lmao
Truly one of the people of all time
When my parents voted in free elections for the first time after the breakup of the USSR they both thought that it was more like a novelty and that whoever was elected it wouldn't really make a difference in the long run, it was like choosing a flavour of ice cream but still getting ice cream. It wasn't until they moved to the Canada and saw how life worked in democratic countries where free speech and democracy was a fact of life that they truly understood the purpose of free speech and electing your government. That line about people who don't know what to do with freedom don't really need it is pretty profound.
I'm in Canada aswell but I don't think my parents like it here that much, also Canada's government has been shit recently especially with trudeau, you're not really free here my friend especially with some fo the laws here.
Their original perception was correct
@@wealthybone2990 go to live in the forest, you will be 100% free.
The one time boomers were wiser
Freedom is not only a right, it is a very serious responsibility.
Your final comment, 'Rest in Peace, Thank you for trying' is very touching. This was very informative for me as a US Citizen who remembers Gorbachev from our point of view.
I was a child of the 80s in the US and my experience of Gorbachev was conflicted; as a child of the Cold War, I was afraid of the geopolitical influence the USSR had and what it could mean on so many levels of life, but. I was always impressed by Gorbachev in interviews. He seemed like a man with a great understanding of the nature of humanity itself under Soviet leadership. But when a paradigm changes, those who bring the change are rarely lauded in their own circles.
I honestly feel that was the problem. He was too human to be a politician
@@joaovitormatos8147 Too human, but had no issue with killing peaceful protestors in the Baltics, Kazakhstan, Armenia et al.
@@MtotheW You have to understand that his original goal was not to destroy the USSR, so in times of crisis had to make really tough decisions in order to stay in power and not get overthrown by generals or the congress of national deputies(USSR parliament at that point) so he could proceed with his original ambitions (liberalization of the USSR) because nobody wanted the country to collapse. At that time the soviet ideology, which ignored all national and racial tensions that existed at that time and which rooted for decades before, impacted the elite and the society so much that they could have never been prepared for what happened (massive national liberation protests and movements all around the country) which along with other factors ultimately made the congress change the constitution and declare the Republic of Russia, one day after Gorby gave his resignation. In no way am I condoning the actions of the Soviet government at that time, I am just saying that it is important to know the context of it all.
@@MtotheW You are either very naive or very stupid to think the presidency of any country is so black and white.
At this point half of the bus was laughing
I was born in 1991 in Russia, and moved away when I was 6. In Russia we were poor af. I remember my mum asking me to go to a store and get a QUARTER of a bread loaf. And they would actually cut it up and sell it by quarters at the time. Mum worked as an office cleaning lady and my sister wrote little poems about how she was hungry and we had no food at home - they were pretty good rhymes for a 10 years old btw. If I could describe my memories about childhood in Russia in 90s, using 1 word - it would be the word MISERY. And of course, after people went through that, the stability and prosperity brought by Putin, seems like a gift. And they are afraid to change this stability now, because the last time the stability changed was when the 90s came. The bigger problem is that majority of russians have never travelled abroad and what they see about west on TV is nothing flattering, so they cannot form their own opinion that the changes will eventually lead to a better life. And yeah, people can say "they have internet, they could see if they wanted to see", but its not true. I grew up hearing that Gorbachev destroyed the great country. And as I was never interested in politics - what I thought about Gorbachev was exactly what I was told by my parents. Same is happening right now - even youngsters believe what is being said on TV, because thats what their parents believe. I have 2 cousins of 24 and 18 yo and they both surprisingly believe it...
You know it's interesting how many young people think it's their duty to think about politics "as a family". Like, if their "family" thinks it, then they must think it too. It happens in the US too, more with Republicans. It's not forced, from what I see. They just want to do that way. It never seems to occur to them, they can think something different than their "family".
I was a student when the uprising happened in August 1991. I was among the students who demonstrated for Gorbatchov to be brought back alive, when suddenly the news announced that he had "vanished" and nobody knew if he was dead or alive...we were so scared!! The first day we cried, the second day we marched! And we hoped, that the US. would side with Gorbatchov, and NOT with the putchists! It was Yeltsin, who started to "lead the crowds", but it was also him who forced Gorbatchov to leave politics, because we found out later, that he only took action after Gorbatchov had signed the document and promised to leave power...back then nobody wanted the old Stalinist regime to come back! EVERYBODY wanted Gorbatchov back alive!
> The bigger problem is that majority of russians have never travelled abroad and what they see about west on TV is nothing flattering
"west" is too vague. I've lived in the US and I don't want Russia to become like that
Compared to Rus, US is like a Utopia in space while Russia is like a dystopian slave planet.
He’s a complex man. He tried to save a failing state and was certainly no Saint with plenty of violent oppression, but he also wasn’t willing to rise to the level of violence as his predecessors.
He was incompetent and largely caused the collapse of the Soviet Union
Surely the USSR had to be reformed but not so badly, it was a failure from every point of view
He was a traitor who sold the empire because he had a similar mindset as this videos producer. A person ready to anything to be accepted the westerners
Yes, but violence maintains order. Protestors cause chaos and trouble that serves no purpose. Rulers understand this and punish them without mercy. Mercy and pacifism are ... the vices of weak men. Dangerous, very dangerous.
@@maewest68 I'm afraid not. If only life were that simple.
"violence maintains order." -- sometimes true; sometimes not
"Protesters cause .... that serves no purpose" -- sometimes true; sometimes not
"Mercy and pacifism are ... the vices of weak men" -- for the case of absolute pacifism, I personally half agree with you; for the case of mercy, not really.
"Dangerous, very dangerous" -- though not half as dangerous as one-sided, and childishly over-simplistic assertions such as some of yours above.
I'd say Roman's more nuanced take captures rather more of truth than yours does. For example, it is surely very easy to find, within human history, many instances of protest that were ultimately proved to have served the highest of positive purpose.
@@davidwright5094 I'm glad you can at least concede sometimes the way of the tyrant is right, and the way of the "loving mother" is just weakness, pure and simple.
Mercy - Caesar showed mercy to the patricians after he conquered Rome, how did that work out for him? Mercy is a weakness.
Give me one instance where protest has proved to have serve the highest of positive purpose, and then tell me that instance does not have an iota of subjectivity in it and that there was no negative for someone. Protest is in it's most neutral sense just a way for the weaker side to try to get something out of the stronger side. When you are weak, you protest. When you're strong, you crush. Same people, just a different starting point.
Protest against Russia today, wonderful. Protest in favour of Russia, "terrible!". It is not the act of protest that people like, it's the cause and their own bias being pushed that they live to see. 'Twas ever thus.
Surprise, Gorbachev was human. Having lived through the time of the break-up of the Soviet Union(which I could never have envisioned) in the U.S. I never really knew what people there thought of Gorbachev. Thanks for a very well done piece.
Reagan got on very well with him and liked him a lot and called him his friend, that’s saying something from a man who detested communism and called the Soviet Union the evil empire
"Gorbachev gave Russians freedom" - total bullshit.Only brainwashed animals believe in this shit. gorbachev lived in USA For USA money. just a coincidence." No one in Russia considers him a traitor". What a joke. Are you people realy believe in that?
@@StoutProper Reagan and Gorbachev did more for humanity than all of the other public figures of the last 75 years combined. The proved that goog men can defeat evil without a wholesale slaughter of innocents. Only the parasites of evil tarnish their memories.
@@jewelltuber yeah, the last time we had men that good in charge was Kennedy and Kruschev
@@StoutProper you do know that Kennedy didn’t care for voting rights or the entire civil rights movement. He also didn’t feel like policies actually helping workers was important. He only supported the right to bodily autonomy because the evangelical church was pro-abortion. He was funded by dark money and he didn’t mind being called an American Royalty.
Thanks a lot for introducing some nuance into the discussion about his legacy. He had great aspirations but failed horribly in their execution. The widespread poverty and suffering that people had to go through after the fall of the Soviet union is a testament to that.
You don't understand, for most countries in the former Eastern Bloc, the '90s were *bearable.* Maybe not in *Russia* (cause it was sucking resources from the other republics), but everywhere else *the '80s* was the dacade that was absolutely brutal.
I grew up in Romania in the '90s & although the country was in a really bad shape, my parents were telling me horror stories of how bad things had been during Communism. And basically everyone in the country blamed *Communism* for how bad the '90s had gotten - bc it was a period of massive political & economic transition, big instability, huge inflation and an inherited economic collapse that needed to be dealt with. But still better than the previous decade.
@@dyawr The soviet economy had been mismanaged since the 60s so when Gorbatschow got in power the economy was already crumbling and what his policies were supposed to fix they just made worse.
I can't speak for how much better or worse life got after the fall of the Soviet union for your realtives but for the average worker real wages shrunk quite a lot. They also lost healthcare and cheap housing etc.
He was set up to fail by Brezhnev's dinosaur cronies and their ravenous youth.
Valentin Falin has a book describing it, he was Gorby's advisor.
I met him in 1995 in Atlanta. He was speaking to some group at a hotel ballroom in Atlanta and since my wife is Russian, she wanted to meet him. He seemed like a nice guy. He was speaking about world peace and nuclear disarmament. He was a very smart man.
sounds like bourgeois decadence to me
Brilliant. Nicely done. You needed to do this.
Lots of mentions of your Gorbachev video in the comments here. Comfort versus freedom. Sounds like a philosophical discussion to me!
This was one of your best videos Roman. For an American this was informative as hell. I am not a child of the Cold War. I was born in 1990 just as the Soviet System was collapsing and USA was at its peak. I didn't know anything but USA!!! Until September 11 happened. I knew we held Gorbachev in high esteem in the West and about Perestroika and Glasnost and SHOCK capitalism, but, never understood it from a Russian perspective of someone my age.
same man born in 2001 myself this video helps explain how Russia got to where it is today and yeah America values Freedom over comfort (just look at our homelessness problem and how worker who need 2 full time jobs just to afford a small apartment, gen Z never gonna be house owners) vs comfort which was USSR in the 1970s and early 1980s.
I'd love more videos on this kind of topic. Hearing about the history of the region from a non western perspective is fascinating
Agree. This is a perspective we dont usually get in the west. I knew Russians didnt like Gorbachev but I couldnt understand why. This video fixed that for me. (Another good youtuber for this is vlad vexler)
Agreed!!!
Agreed on this.
agreed
This IS the Western perspective. No one liked Gorbacev in the former USSR except the rich criminals that stole the USSR's wealth.
As a Latvian, I can surely say, that Latvians don't hate Gorbachev. Neither Estonians and Lithuanians, I think. we are greatful that he let us go without big fuss. Cause there was some and some people died as well.
If Gorbachev would have other people around him, that would see his vision and know better how to do it, it might have been so much better for the economy.
And one other thing - Baltic states didn't break away from ussr cause of the money trouble. we always wanted our freedom back, but Gorbachev's reign was the right moment to take it back. RIP, Mihail. He is the only ussr leader that I don't hate.
(I'm 38, so I remember some sh!t from back in the day.)
Same thing from Moldova, I think many Russians fell to understand how the European Republics in the Union lost a lot after the occupation of the soviets.
In a instance they robbed us of languages, history and tried to erase our whole culture. So there was a lot of frustration over the whole occupation.
@@missmaddy not just that, but also wealth. trying to take everything away instead giving us a "safe ignorance" to live in... maybe russian boomers loved it, but normal people want freedom, to know things and make their own choices.
Sending tanks into Vilanus is not much of a fuss?
@@adi2.054 we had a shooting in centre of Riga, there still are memorial stones in places where some of us died, but, no, it wasn't as close as bad as it could have been and would have been under any of the previous rulers.
Ok hold on a minute. I understand you hating every Soviet leader besides Lenin. Why do you hate him?
We in Poland aren't great fans of Russians on the whole, but Gorbachev was an exception, he and his wife Raisa were very popular in Poland at the time, and that's saying something. I remember his visit to Poland in late 80's, there was this air of greatness, statemanship about him, and at the same time he seemed like a normal, warm person. My mother would then say "he's the only Ruski that I like"'
If I ain't mistaken he was half ukranian
The problem with freedom is that it comes packaged with responsibility and accountability, and a lot of people hate that fact. Even in the west.
That's why they want communism.
As a Eastern European, I laugh. The worse thing can happen to the West is "neo-communism" bullsh%t I read about every day.
And as in our former Bloc, only lazy and stupid people praise Communism.
If any westerner is thinking about communism, he should talk with people who lived communism. Realistic people who lived communism.
(As a child, I almost got killed in a line for bread. And I am 45 years old, not 85, to think that line was maybe in WW2)
There is no freedom. People just keep using that word without any clue what they are talking about. Life is a battle (pathogens, hello?), a struggle, and it's like a marathon that ends in destruction anyway. Wherever you are, despite maybe a lack of awareness to this purpose, your priority is to maintain biological homeostasis, then you die. Life is inevitable suffering.
Whatever political philosophy you follow doesn't really matter. However if you have strong resources for yourself, you might just live a higher quality possibly easier existence. That is just my honest observation of how life works. There are fun bits here and there in between. Meanwhile, that cat avatar 😼 is insisting I freely grab some munchies, then take a cat nap.
He, who would trade liberty for a little security, deserves neither. Those who grew up in extreme security had no concept of liberty.
Like the whole country called USA?
I lived in Romania in 70s, 80s and part of the 90s and I remember having a great childhood, even though was not plentiful. But by the time I started realizing how your freedom is restricted and how almost everything is lined out for you and how you have so little opportunities to do what you want in life, all I wanted was to escape, get away from this system that made you do things you did not want to do. And I was not alone. In my entire life in Romania, I only met 1 person who I think sincerely believed the system was good. To me Gorbachev was this angel who made it possible to live my life the way I wanted. And I will always be grateful for his existence. 90s were not easy anywhere in eastern Europe. All the communist block had to reinvent itself and that is not easy at that scale. But how are you going to do it without trying? Whatever mistakes Gorbachev did, I think the new generation has a better life because of those mistakes. I don't think anyone could have done it better at that point in time.
what kind of opportunities do you have nowadays, if you have little money? The answer is - none. The current system makes you do a lot of things that you do not want, accepting mass migration, Islam and sexualization of children among the ones which are the worst in my mind.
@@grundgesetzart.1463 there are a lot of opportunities now in Romania(or working abroad to send money back for your family), you're poor only if you are lazy or have really bad health. Your arguments are typical braindead anti EU / NATO points that you hear from Kremlin bots/useful idiots all the time, but life is very different(and much better although not perfect) now in Romania than it was during communism.
@@grundgesetzart.1463 Geh schlafen Bot
@@grundgesetzart.1463 true but atleast you don't get through into a gulag for daring to think differently 🤔
@@grundgesetzart.1463 You have the freedom to use your skills to do what you want. If you got no money, your priorities shouldn't be anyway near 'mass migration islam and pedophilia' just saying maybe you got more important things to work on.... We are not all equal, but here's the catch, you have the freedom to move up or even down the ladder.
"thank you for trying" oooosh dude, i felt the collective hope and existential dread of every Russian under 40 leaving the building in those words...
It's so tragic that the trauma of the 90s led the russians to believe they have to choose between freedom and comfort when in reality you either have both or neither.
Yeah, the Soviet times really where both both at once, especially before kruschev, both not needing to worry about surviving and also having the freedom to not worry about surviving, Russia nowadays is a harsh place
Well, people of Soviet Union basically were like children and the government was their parent, they didn't have to worry about nothing if they obeyed the rules, government took care of everything.
Now remove that government and the people are left as orphans, unready and incapable of making decisions and living their life independently.
They were not educated to be self sufficient, so for them "freedom" meant headache.
@@MrTuttiFrutti the people did all of the work, if they had something, it's because they worked for it, it's nothing but self reliability, if that's "being like children" then i outta assume you'd prefer to be poor and enslaved instead of having the fruits of your work given to you
Also, after kruschev's rule began in the early 50's, the government started being increasingly more greedy and less democratic, culminating in the restoration of capitalism against the people's will, Wich threw the people into a state where they still had to b self reliable, but now there where a scourge of billionaires who controlled the state and had a vested interest in making people's lives worst
@@Tsuruchi_420 don't assume, it's not what I prefer. I was just analyzing the situation, but if you want to know my opinion, I rather make my own decisions and be responsible for my mistakes.
Yes, people did all of the work and gained their living but they were not the ones making decisions. They had a lot of things already pre established so they had not to worry or think about, thus not making a lot of important decisions in their lives.
That was my point. I'm not saying that was good or bad, it's just the way it was and that's why a lot of people were not ready and didn't know what to do with the western type of "freedom".
@@MrTuttiFrutti I'd love to hear what those "pre-established" things where, cause the only thing I can think about is the planified economy, and most of us already don't choose what is produced in our workplaces
The soviets had elections, extremely powerful worker's unions, every work place was a miniature democracy where all the workers have qual decision power on how to do stuff
The soviets didn't have less "freedom" than us, they had freedoms people outside socialist countries fucking dream of having
And all of this applies to pretty much every socialist country except for china in some specific cases, no freedoms lost
Roman, I am impressed with your analysis of Gorbachev. As a Gen Xer, I was 14 when Brezhnev died. Then there was briefly Andropov and Chernenko before finally Gorbachev took over. I remember these years and the 90s with that drunk baffoon, Yeltsin, very well. I am also very conflicted about Gorbachev and his legacy. For someone who is much younger than me, I find that your assessment and mixed feelings about Gorbachev sum up my thoughts about him quite well. The breakup of the Soviet Union and the catastrophic years that followed in the 90s cannot be pinned solely on this one man, although he does bear the majority of the responsibility, I would say. I believe he had good intentions, but you know what they say about the road to hell. Rest in peace, Mikhail Sergeyevich!
Being raised in the us and learning about this man I like him not for him being the last of the USSR, but for the words of wisdom he had in interviews I've watched. He's not an evil man from my understanding, I felt a little sadness the day he passed.
Taking a politician at their word is very naive. If you've studied the history of Gorbachev's time you'd know that he was very friendly to the people who became the oligarchs. Millionaires existed during his reign. He was not a good guy.
@@TheAnthraxBiology you clearly have no idea how politics work.
Only westerners were sad lol
No Russian mourned his death
@@MaxStirner123 exactly. Most of them don’t care or celebrate it
Baltics celebrate it too.
i'm sad not because im from the west, its because I admired what he believed in, if anything I dont care about the us because my pagan spirituality and heritage from western europe are more important to me. Plus I'm gen z and wish to move on from this soviet bullshit to another pile of bullshit Idc which we need to stop living in the past
I studied in Japan three years ago and one of my classmates was from Estonia. He said that he was of the believe that Gorbachov was not solely responsible because disillusionment with the USSR had been growing for decades. Many people in the USSR had not become citizens of their own free will and that Russia did not necessarily represent the feelings and interests of people in the other republics.
It makes sense for him b/c Estonia, along with Latvia and Lithuania, was incorporated into the USSR much later in 1940, and very unwillingly at that, so much so that today, the three Baltic governments claim that they still legally existed from 1940 to 1991 and that the Soviet governments were illegal.
@@angusyang5917 As an Estonian, I can confirm that's the way we regard it. In fact, I'd actually think it's sort of a misnomer, perhaps even insulting, to call many former USSR "republics" post-Soviet countries, because it implies the countries were created by dissolution of USSR. Whereas actually, the countries existed way before, had their very distinct languages and cultures and were occupied by force by the USSR. USSR also imposed a Russian hegemony on its "members" by russification and repression of national identity and culture (during Gorbachev era too by the way). It was by no means a happy union of nationalities.
Georgia was actually a socialist nation run by Menshivics that had Lenin left them alone may have been viewed as a beacon of socialism. But Lenin had to be the only socialist game in town and invaded Georgia, so there was no alternative form of socialism, setting socialism back by a century.
@Tomislav Puklin You're like an american trying to explain to other people about their own country.
@Tomislav Puklin collaborated with anyone to get rid of the reds, wouldn't have mattered who it was.
Gorbachev ended the cold war and gave eastern European countries their sovereignty back. A great man.
And then those states immediately sold their people off to NATO, kicking many out of their homes, and stopping any sort of provision of necessities for them. The states themselves would later participate in other genocides, such as the ones in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.
He was planning somehow to get Warsaw Pact back when USSR's economical situation is better. He was doing the Lenin trick of 1918.
Gorbachev was well respected here in german politics as he was the russian president that allowed the reunification. Many public facilities were ordered to flying flags on half-mast on the day of his burial.
If Putin had been the leader at that time, I doubt he would have allowed the reunification of Germany 🇩🇪.
German reunification was a mistake. For this alone gorby was terrible
@@B_Cleric_Time Your comment is a "How to show myself as the most dumb idiot I am".
@@B_Cleric_Time You earned the "dumbest post of the year award"
Gorbachev was a Russian Gauleiter lol.
I first came to know about him by doing a school project on Chernobyl. Really liked some of his statements on it. I find his passing sort of symbolic, it's like the last symbol of good Russia-US relations and the end of the cold war is gone now. He tried to liberalize Russia, and also saw his efforts being reversed. Putin even denied him a state funeral. Kind of feel bad for him. His last years must've been lonely. It's unfortunate we couldn't know his reaction to the current situation. He may have not been perfect, but it could’ve gone down much worse under anyone else.
On a positive note, that ERB battle is dope. It's my favourite.
If i was putin i would have organised a state funeral to keep the no braincells anti war crowd at bay, like a convesion to them.
Political Philosopher Vlad Vexler uploaded an excellent video yesterday about Gorbachev. He’s Russian living in London since childhood. He had recent clips of Gorbachev’s reactions in his video.
why should he have a state funeral in a state he was never technically leader of, that was born out of a state he fucking destroyed?
@@maewest68 Good luck trying to convince any significant proportion of the population of many of those now "detached" ex-USSR states that one man, called Gorbachev, "destroyed" that monolith all by himself. Do you really have some "wine and roses" vision of how USSR would have been in 2022 had only that particular individual never been born, back in March 1931?
You sound almost as prone to self-deception as many of these 1970s ex KGB officers seem to be. -- and that's a very high bar of vulnerability to self-deception.
@@davidwright5094 I wouldn't need to convince any of them if he had sent the tanks in like his predecessors did... that would have been enough to convince all those fuckers. Just like it convinced the students in Tiananmen Square to shut the fuck up and go home. He destroyed it because at the moment the cracks turned to fissures, he did not fill the breach. He may not have caused the dam to break, but he didn't even try to put a finger in the hole. In that sense, it is his failure.
honestly that line about "gorbachev's overcoat" was really powerful, the weight that people attach to the original reference really drove his point home
As an East german born in the 70's, I owe all the life I enjoy today to Mr. Gorbachev. I'm pretty sure if some Stalinist or soviet hardliner had ruled in '89 - he probably would have sent tanks to murder and oppress. So thank you Mr. Gorbachev, you may not have been a perfect leader, but you let people who wanted the change go their way.
Oh yeah because its so much better now that Germany is going to be minority German in the next century?
It’s sad Gorbachov died thinking himself a failure. But sometimes short term failure leads to long term success. We don’t know how this story ends yet. Whole generations of Europeans got to grow up free, inside and outside Russia.
@@AnIdiotsLantern “inside russia” excuse me what? What europeans forgot in Russia, u have Europe. Stay in Europe, don’t come to our country. Our country is for Slavic and Asian people only.
What you mean like Yeltsin did?
@@AnIdiotsLantern He correctly judged himself a failure. All of Eastern Europe has rotted because of the US empire.
Romanian here: thank you Mikhail Gorbachev! I was 18 in '89. Yes, we were poor even in Romania in the '90's and corruption grew, but here I am a free and happy European woman. Also, the '80's were horrible, I still recall the hunger, the cold and the dark, and the half-empty stores.
Ceaucescu's rule in general was horrific, based on what I read about it.
Do you still live in Romania?
what do you say about the Roma gangs terrorizing Romanian villages and towns? I think before 1989 this was not an issue. We have the same problems in Bulgaria as well (my father is Bulgarian).
@@grundgesetzart.1463 nah mate, no roma gang is terrorizing romanian villages and towns. There are some roma underground mobs here and there, but they are usually kept at bay by the police.
@@grundgesetzart.1463 where do you get your news , from sputnik lol?
Having lived through his tenure as leader (I was 11 when the USSR broke up), watching from the U.K. I always felt like he genuinely wanted things to improve and I had, and still have a much better opinion of him than of Thatcher and Reagan. I was still terrified of “the Russians” nuking us but I always thought it would be the Americans who triggered the nuclear war.
In my family (I'm Czech), we have a lot of "Russia stories". Experiences of family members who went to Russia or interacted with Russians that are told over and over to the younger generation so that they'd know what they are dealing with. They explain pretty well what you have summed up in this video.
I lived in three months and the reactions I got when I tried to communicate with older Czechs in Russian was often an abrupt refusal to use the language they had learned in school (I'm American and would tell them so, for what it's worth). I do get it though. Sadly, when I brought this up to young Russians, they were mystified as to why this would be the case.
@@bjhale It's simple, the Russians took over the Czech Republic by force, there were many political murders, people were murdered by the regime etc. So of course there is hatred towards Russia. We were oppressed for a long time. And for example, the "Prague Spring" mentioned was just about Russia attacking the people of their own country with the military (at the time) because demoralization started to arise there. In Russia it is taught in a few sentences saying that the Russians went to help us and yet they simply attacked the inhabitants of the Czech Republic with the army.
@ Yeah, that's why I get the response from older Czechs to Russian and Russians. Beyond what you cited, another issue with history education in Russia is that they basically teach children that Russia only fights defensive wars, never offensive ones. I had a smart 12 year old even tell me that Russia has never aggressively invaded another country, but has been the one that gets invaded. Had some fun teaching her her own history (and a little of yours).
There’s also a sense held by many people in Czechia that Russians tend to be more ‘uncivilised’ than Central Europeans. Even my Slovak mother who was taught the Russian language thinks Russians are culturally more ‘crazier’ than other people.
@@NewNicator it’s true. If you have ever been to Prague during the orthodox new year- also known in Prague as the Russian invasion, you would have the same thoughts about how they are the equivalent of uncivilized country bumpkins. I don’t know how many times I have seen them fall asleep on the floor at bars, on couches in hotel lobbies, in casinos, put their feet up on tables and get drunk and extremely obnoxious. This isn’t even from working class Russians, but wealthy Russians…
Most Russians I've talked to who are old enough to remember the USSR have told me that Gorbachev brought them poverty, humiliation, criminality, and many other things, but no, no one talked to me about any kind of "freedom"...
-How "free" could be someone who has nothing to eat?
I'm from and an ex-soviet country, Estonia, and here he's mostly thought of as starting the process that allowed us to regain our freedom. Not a hero (he did try to hold the USSR together), but still one reason why we even had a chance for freedom. So even while the 90's were hard for many, we had our freedom to build our own future and I'd say we managed quite alright. So most articles I saw about his death here mentioned him in more of a positive light.
Aren’t the folks that made Disco Elysium Estonian?
*_I NEVER COMMENTED ON AN ESTONIAN COMMENT BEFORE._*
Back then, the leaders of the Baltic countries were flying around like maniacs to be accepted into major international institutions and to distance themselves from Russia as much as possible.
This did not happen in the rest of the ex-USSR and they are paying for this mistake with their own blood.
@@550077 How?
@@550077 The Baltics were lucky that it didn't become Russified. Yes, you have a rather large Russian minority now that wasn't their before the occupation, but at least the Baltics knew about being independent and free. The other republics haven't.
What a man. He met the Pope, met both Ronald’s (Reagan and McDonald), tore down the wall, and the USSR
"met both Ronald's(Reagan and McDonald)" ERB reference?
@@laylamia duh..
And he even had time to stop by Pizza Hut!
he didn't tore down the wall or the ussr. the ussr killed itself in the long run through inefficiencies of the system and those exploiting it from within the party when the country was born. the wall was torn down by protesters when the border guards were ordered by the east german government to not control them. gorbachev wanted to save the ussr with needed reforms, but its too late, the cancer of corruption made it impossible to reform.
You say that as if any of those things were good.
At least he gave us the best Pizza Hut ad in a lifetime.
Gorbachev was a very positive figure in Hungary too. Because of him we gained back our freedom and the whole 90s was a very happy time (but also hard because of the changes in economy).
Vlad Vexler made an excellent video on this yesterday. Gorby would've probably tried different tactics than Glasnost & Perestroika if the oil prices hadn't dramatically fallen in the 1980's. He inherited a war in Afghanistan and a country that spent 25% of GDP on the defence industry so something had to be done.
Vlad is awesome
There was also the clean up and containment of the Chernobyl disaster as well that cost the Union an arm and a leg.
Vlad gave his approval of this video in the comments. Love that
@@MsRainingDays Vlad's a gentleman.
Political Philosopher Vlad Vexler understands and communicates excellently on the state of Russian politics or lack thereof.
Gorbachev prevented a Yugoslavia like bloodshed collapse within the Eastern Block. He allowed Hungary and Poland to become democratic and didn´t intervene when Honecker asked for it leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall. He is a hero in all post-communist countries of Central Europe. We know that if Gorbachev didn´t rise to power that Eastern-Germany, Poland, Czechia and Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria might still have been controlled by the Soviet Union. Without Gorbahev, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and the Central Asian Turkic countries wouldn´t have even been independent.
I am from former communist Yugoslavia. Tito's regime here was worse than Stalin's regime. Аnd the USA + Western european countries supported that Tito's genocidal-criminal communist regime. Because of that Western tolerance to their communists, we had problem and war in 90s. Western countries arrested our anti-communist heroes and handed them over to Tito, who liquidated them without trial, like every communist. It would have been much less evil if we had ended up in the USSR, than in Yugoslavia led by Tito. Because the USSR was created to disintegrate peacefully, and Yugoslavia only in blood. Precisely because of this, today's countries like Serbia and Croatia, we don't have communist parties, and the left sector is much weaker than in Russia or in the west of Europe. But on the other side, nationalism of all forms is dominant.
@@gambinogambinos2439 This is one of the most uneducated and uninformed comments I've seen in a while... Well done.
@@Kosac07 Because you believe in lies? Where are you from ?
As a Latvian, all I can say is: yes, we (proud nations that were belittled under Soviet rule) will take freedom over any comfort ;)
In words of our famous poet Vizma - "a wolf will glance at the forest, no matter how good you feed it, because it's not a dog after all"
and thank you, we are living better than at any point of the history right now.
In retrospect the Baltic states democratizing and joining NATO was probably an extremely forward thinking move. They’re small but they’re a lifeline from the west to Eastern Europe because of the Baltic Sea, and as NATO they are pretty well protected from Russian aggression, at least until something goes seriously sideways.
Remember when the next 1/6 coup in America works, someone else will have to lead the free world. Europe is stronger together.
I think you Nazi lovers need to be taught respect.
as a Latvian, I think you can be proud to be US chihuahua, I think that is the biggest achievement as nation throughout the history
I wonder if you've ever gone hungry, or ever been homeless, sincerely wondering here
@@Tsuruchi_420 slaves never go hungry their benevolent masters let them have food sometimes when they are good
You hit the nail right on the head. I have Russian friends who emigrated to Canada from Moscow during the 1990s. They left during the period of Yeltsin because of just how bad it was because they were being extorted by Russian Mafia in Moscow just in order to live. These guys were educated engineers who worked for the Moscow subway system and were struggling to just put food in their mouths because of all of the gangsters roaming the streets.
The 1990s really do explain my friend's current love of Putin and why I feel many Russians - especially of a certain age - buy into his rhetoric. They even moved back to Moscow from Canada - even after obtaining Canadian citizenship - because of the so-called 'stability' Putin brought to the country. Now when I debate with them about things regarding the war in Ukraine, they just spout Putin's propaganda verbatim despite having lived in the West for at least ten years.
As Westerners we really struggle to understand why a country would follow someone so blindly for so long - especially when things in Russia seem to be so corrupt and restrictive to those used to living in decades old democracies. What we fail to recognize and see is that things were downright terrible in the 1990s. Russians had freedom, but it's a country that never had it previously. Once Putin obtained the presidency of Russia, he brought stability - or at least a facade of stability - to every day Russians. He brought people out of poverty in the cities and gave them middle class comforts. The overt corruption - while still there - became more hidden and not as literal as having some gangster coming around holding a gun demanding money. The bribes and greased palms moved to higher levels that didn't always involve the commoner. People could travel the world, go on holidays, have items people in the West have, buy their own comfortable apartment, afford a dacha, etc.
Slowly, but surely, Putin has started to claw back the freedoms that had been granted in the late 1980s and 1990s as a result of Gorbachev's policies. Gorbachev was a great leader as a global politician - just not so much as a leader of the USSR/Russia. He largely single-handedly ended the Cold War. He co-signed and co-authored the Anti-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty that Russia and the US are sadly no longer members of, thereby drastically reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the world for a time. He brought down the Berlin Wall and allowed democracies to flourish in former Soviet republics - albeit inadvertently. He brought an end to the Soviet Afghanistan War. He brought freedom to a whole host of ethnicities that were formerly ruled by an iron fist in Moscow, or the equivalent in their own countries like Poland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania, etc. He gave people the ability to have free will and thought - but at the cost of freedom to a people who had never experienced it. So while he brought the world so many good things, he quite literally opened Pandora's Box and couldn't put the lid back down when all of the garbage came flying out with the good.
Says the guy living in a country where if you misgender someone, you get cancelled immediately and potentialy thrown into jail
@@cobrakilla8 huh? What are you referring to?
I live in Canada. Also, what does your comment have to do with what was said above?
Im brazilian and I feel sad about the situation of most of the russian people,who for me are hostages of a group of bad people, who dont think about the good of everyone, they only think about keeping their "Power".
The worst are the people who support the lack of freedom and free justice in Rússia.
@cobrakilla8 Potentially thrown in jail? Lmao
You can't even call Russia's embarrassing genocidal imperialist scourge into Ukraine a war in the motherland.
Projecting so hard it clouds your brain.
Roman, thank you so much for your insightful commentary. As an American born in '65, people like myself could only dream of having real frank discussions with ordinary Russians like yourself. The rise to power of Mikael Gorbachev was a breath of fresh air that few today could really understand. He made so much possible that was previously unthinkable. Unlike many in America, l was not particularly gleeful with the fall of the USSR. I had some sense that our counterparts would suffer from the chaos. Gorbachev had a real vision but he couldn't control what he had started. The four saddest words: what might have been. RIP Mr. Gorbachev.
1967...Agree
1967...Agree
Brendan thank you for insight. I find it interesting that US did not help post-Soviet Russia rebuild like they did with Japan and Germany. I wonder if that would have changed things.
As a Lithuanian, i blame him for Red armies roll over peaceful protesters with tanks. 14 People died that day.
But also i recognize that he didn't roll over our whole Country with tanks. Which he absolutely could have. Could have been WAY worse
Killing 14 people is a normal afternoon for Putin.
Plus he crushed the protests in Azerbaijan
Since this is something not often talked about, how did the Baltics (I know, you hate being generalised like that, but considering all three nations were occupied at the same time, joined the EU and eurozone etc., seems like a comparable situation) manage to overcome the post-soviet (economic) difficulties and become relatively prosperous countries?
Vlad Vexler mentioned this in his video on Gorbachev yesterday.
@@quuaaarrrk8056 Estonia was the richest and the most (non-military) industrialised republic in the USSR, so no wonder. Can't tell about the other two.
Really great video. Growing up during the cold war in the US, we often remember the end of it romantically because, honestly, it took a lot of fear away from us and, from what we saw in the media, all of these scenes, like the Berlin Wall coming down, inspired us to think that maybe the world would be a better place. The 1990s were kind of conflicted for us though too. Gulf War I happened and people really started to wonder what our place, as the US, was in the new world. Some people wanted to take charge as the "lone superpower" and others wanted us to maybe be less of a "policeman" around the globe. 9/11 really made that worse and, using your comparison between freedom and comfort, the US started choosing comfort as well. A lot of "security" measures went into place and a new spectre, the terrorist, replaced the boogeymen of the Soviet Union. For people who went through the Cold War, it felt like we slid back into the old thinking. I feel even more like that today with the Ukraine War and the recent moves in China. It's honestly terrible and Gorbachev dying really hit home. It felt like the end of the hope for peace, even if he unleashed something he couldn't really control. It felt good to be out in the sun instead of in its shadow...
Peace is pointless, a brief respite. War is the right and natural state of affairs.
Most people don't want to be free, because they don't want to be responsible. They just want a kind slave master to be taken care of. Unfortunately this doesn't apply only to Russians...
Very curious about you referring Gulf war 1 and 9/11.
In 1990 after the collapse of the USSR there was only 1 superpower left, USA.
Gulf war 1 was against Saddam Hoessein after invading Kuwait.
Saddam his army was trained and equipped with US army materiał.
No problem being a dictator, as long as he was fighting Iran, the friend of the USSR.
Same with Bin Laden.
His troops were trained and equipped with US army material.
No problem being a terrorist, as long as he was fighting the USSR.
I see the same happening in Ukraine.
No problems if you are a bad person, as long as you are fighting Russia.
Why has this war started in the first place?
Putin didn't want more NATO weapons near his border.
I don't tell he is a good person, but his claim was valid.
The 3 Baltic states are already NATO territory, as also Poland.
Gorbatchov asked just 1 item after the dismantled USSR, neutral territory of Poland and all ex USSR states.
Yeltsin asked membership of EU and NATO.
All US and Western promises were hollow.
Gorbatchov was the best USSR president, but Russian communists didn't want him and the Western world just lied to him with empty promises.
that fear was all propaganda, both military industrial complex we're laughing all the way to the bank, ya we're fooled
@@guidogos6031 You cant be drunk and corrupt, and expect of me to invite you into my home.
You did a good job portraying Soviet sentiment. I was there in the 90's & folk said they never had to worry about a job or apartment, done for them, as you show. One Afghan vet lamented, "We lost a war we never got to fight." I told him your freedom was won for you without a fight, and without asking. The interviews you included were spot on.
Interesting show. You described Gorbachev very well, the good that resulted from his time as leader and the fact he wasn’t able to lead what he created in an effective way. I do think there were obstacles in his way that he had no control over and I believe he wanted to steer Russia into more of a socialist country similar to European model. He was never going to be allowed that.
You cannot lead alone a country this big.
He was a good man, but maybe alone in his ideas (we see the history after him)
You’ve explained so many things so well. You seem to have a quite educated and unbiased (as far as one can have) view on the subject.
I think we in the west underestimate sometimes how much comfort is worth to people. Some of us blame Russians and what-not for not protesting (and consequently getting locked up), while most of us can’t even spend a day without our phones (and let alone, electricity).
Thanks!
Same. I'm extremely happy to live in a place and time where I can have both: freedom *and* comfort. But if I had to choose only one of them... I'm not really sure what I'd do. I love freedom, but if having freedom would mean e.g. hunger... no idea 🙄 although I admire those who fight for their freedom, who believe that at the end it'll be worth it. But they're braver than me.
What is so good about "freedom" anyway , when you always have food, a roof over your head, a loving family, a car, and endless entertainment, (computer, xbox, etc) education, health care, nice high quality clothes etc... You never have to worry about losing your house or your kids having no food... Everything is great. That is pretty much the best life anyone could ask for. I wouldn't want to live in a western country where everywhere has a housing problem, rent prices are insane , and most people worry 24/7 about how they are gonna make it till the next paycheck. It is only good if you are like a super high skilled professional who can make 100k+ but only like 5% of people fit that description, what about the other 95%, they are living much worse lives than any average person in russia, imo
If I'm to believe my parents, things weren't as smooth under Brezhnev either. My dad remembers Brezhnev times as the worst he has lived through in terms of comfort. When getting an apartment is way easier than getting furniture for that apartment, you know the system is broken and needs some changes
It really depends on who you ask. Some would say Brezhnev brought some semblance of political stability (not that the standard for that was very high to begin with) but others would say that rather than stability, it was stagnation that he brought.
I bet back then u could pay off an apartment in just a years..I'd take that and have an empty apartment for a while lol
@@mikevarga6742 No, back then you had an apartment given to you by the state, after about 20 years of waiting. The location and size of it were not up to you to decide. Good apartments went to the party members and Russians who were brought in to other republics to destroy local culture. This is how in many soviet republics Russians lived in 3 room apartments while people like my grandparents who had 2 kids at the time were given a single room apartment with no hot water and a shared bathroom in the hallway.
@@romanshik yes putin grew up with 2 other families in apartment smh
Massive person he gave the world a fresh of breath air , he is the biggest person in Russian history that was GREAT , I lived those years
i live in finland, was born 2000 so didn't live through any of the soviet stuff but i think people just like him because he was the one that allowed the iron curtain to fall without sending half of the red army to stop it.
yea he was a hardcore communist but he saw the potential other systems had. and as you said, thank you for trying
Sissi jägariiii Russia will hack to your system in future 🤫
The was an Ancap, he just pretended to be a Socialist so he could infiltrate and destroy the nation.
He was a Capitalist lmao
'yea he was a hardcore communist but he saw the potential other systems had'
You say that as if communism is bad, or as if capitalism isn't genocidally bad.
@@thetaomegatheta hardcore communist who played in a pizza hut commercial. That's hardcore communism right there.
"Peace is not unity in similarity, but unity in diversity."
- Mikhail Gorbachev
A great man has passed away. A true believer in reform and modernisation.
Thank you, Mr. Gorbachev.
Rest in Peace.
Rest in piss, more like. His actions led to a lot of people dying and to massive drops in the standards of living.
Here in Romania, Gorbachev is seen in a positive light as unlike his predecessor, he didnt intervene when my parents and many others began to protest against the totalitarian regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, who was finally overthrown after a violent revolution (where hundreds died in just 7 days).
Tho after this, our country went through a bad period in the 90s. The economy was gone, food and medicine became rare and many were (and still are) migrating for better lives. Even tho i was born long after the revolution, i can say we are doing better than before. We still have major problems, but if we give a damn about it and with enough will, i think we can prosper like the west.
Same can be done with Russia (only if Putler is overthrown ofc)
Edit: 12:54 I think this can also be considered in Romania as well. Because aparently, Ceaușescu is still seen by some as a great ruler, even tho he caused a lot of suffering and troubles that some we still face. Now dont get me wrong, his succesors werent that much better, but at least during their presedencies, we have something the people didnt have back then. We have freedom. To protest. To express ourselves. To create our own paths to sucelcess.
Like i said, we can solve our current issues if we keep working as one and remain strong willed to accomplish this.
This is my issue with your thinking: we already tried a Russia without 'Putler' in the form of Yeltsin, and it failed spectacularly.
It's this liberal idea (which I feel Gorbachev had in his mind) that if the people have freedom, everything will magically work itself out!
It didn't, and with Putin gone, it won't. Democracy and economic neoliberalism is not the creator of prosperity, but rather a symptom of it.
Like it or not, there need to be strong national policies to build domestic industry and genuinely raise quality of life. You could open yourself up to the West completely with a few IMF loans, but all that does is kill your own companies and allow the foreign ones to dominate your market and- attempt to, recently- dictate your politics
(even though the Ukraine conflict is not justified, the fact remains that Western companies are an extension of Western political power, and that is rarely good for developing nations).
England developed the first industrial capacity in the world- textiles- by banning all imports from India.
Now they advocate for the exact opposite, achieve the growth that they got.
Rommania will never prosperity while aligned with the West. I k own it sounds cute, but they see you the same as they see Africa. Just a way to get rich by taking advantage. I used to think the same as you when I was a kid, but I had to wake up eventually.
@@LancesArmorStriking While the US crusaded on for regime changes until Iraq finally came back to bite them in arse, Europe had mostly reconciled with these quasi-authoritarian but economically successful countries after the Russian collapse. Europe was really ready to just be friendly with Russia and China as they were and did not expect anymore that they would become necessarily like European parliamentary systems. It would have been enough not to start threatening to invade their neighbours and create glorious empires to continue with that status quo. In any event, I have no idea why Russians seem to think the alternative to Putin is Yeltsin, like there is no other kind of leader.
@@LancesArmorStriking i didnt say it was easy. It was just the start. Like i said it twice now here in Romania we still have issues. Corruption is still high, the people are ageing and young people migrate. There are still bad infrastructure and awful healthcare (not as bad as the U.S. but somewhere out there). And many rights including gay right and abortion (the latter which was reintroduced after the fall of communism) are in danger. But this doesnt mean you can just give up.
There is a saying " If you take the easy road life will become harder. If you take the hard road, life will become easier". And im sorry to say this but this is what Putin's Russia has done. The people wanted to take the easy road so that they can have comfort once more but little did they know, this road only became harder as it was seen recently after the start of the war.
But you can still set it right, only if Putler is overthrown and the russian people start to realise what they have been neglected of.
I mean, Germany is a good example of this (i know making examples is a weak argument but i wanted to say it cause it mostly lines up with what im trying to say).
@@gunterxvoices4101 there are notable exceptions in Africa. Borsawna used to be the second poorest african country at the time of its indepedence. But you think when the first saw this and decided to quit. No. Instead he worked hard to make his republic prosperous and now Botswana has become one of the most richest african nations on par with South Korea and the least corrupt across the continent.
Or Somaliland which is one of the most democratic regions in all of Africa. Though yes they are not as prosperous. But most of it comes from the fact that this "republic" its not recognised by any country.
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"
Or, y'know, not having to shut yourself because if you say something wrong they can kill you
Mikhail Gorbachev is to the USSR as the Chongzhen Emperor is to the Ming dynasty:
Both were the last rulers of their respective states.
Both inherited their countries in an absolute mess left behind by their predecessors.
Both faced movements that threatened to tear their empires apart.
Both were competent leaders, but yet in their rush to prevent their states' downfall, did actions that ultimately contributed to it.
Well, Chongzhen was too paranoid and mistrust others.
@@AlbertAdamsLincoln You're right. He had 17 years to turn the situation around and didn't. He executed capable military commanders due to paranoia and he also had the option to escape to Southern China to continue resistance there but refused to do so.
The Soviet Union was not a mess, GOrbachev created the mess. The CCP government in China still exists and 1980's China was even worse off than the Soviet Union, but Deng Xiaoping a competent leader who was much better than the idiot Gorbachev.
@@AlbertAdamsLincoln Agreed, executing Yuan Chonghuan was probably one of the dumbest decisions in Chinese history.
@@TLshadow1997 I don't think he could've escaped to southern China, and even if he could, I don't think he would take that route either. At the end of the Ming dynasty, it wasn't just dealing with Manchu invasions in the north; it was also fighting a shitload of peasant rebellions in the interior of the country, and these peasant rebellions were highly successful. One of these rebellions, led by Li Zicheng, was able to make its way all the way to Beijing from the south. If the Chongzhen Emperor had fled south, he would've just walked right into the hands of his enemies. The Southern Ming was only founded by Ming princes who were already in the south, and therefore had powerbases there to resist the Shun and Qing dynasties.
In Latvia I haven't heard any negativity from latvian relatives about Gorbachev, since they gained independence. The sentiment I basically got from them is that tough times were always a thing with the USSR, so with independence they understood that it would be tougher and still did it
That part about freedom is so true. Here in Slovakia it made "only" 40 years of Soviet regime to forget difference between comfort and freedom.
Our 90s were also full of shootings, gangs and mafia (one such man who was good friend with mafia is still in highest government, sick), privatization went so wrong in whole country, but what is really disgusting is that a lot of people even now (when you have so much freedom to do, talk and write whatever you want) praise Putin and glorify his regime; have massive problem with critical thinking and crying about not to have freedom (aka spread hoaxes).
This country is still not prepared to be free, unfortunately. Most people don't know what to do with it. Or are too lazy to make some effort. Don't know which more, sadly.
Really? I get the impression Slovakia's standard increased a ton in the last 10-20 years, way more than the Balkans or ex USSR for example, I think 2 more generations and you guys will be alright
Freedom is pointless. It's a utopia that creatures like you like to espouse, because it's a romantic notion. You like to think you're the main character in your own story.
@@AngelSonevski
Slovenia, yes, they made strides.
Slovakia 😬
@@nielsmichiels1939 Slovakia gdp per capita rn is 19k, Bulgaria is 10k and Romania 12k, I'd say they're making strides regardless far from the worst in the EU even, I've been through Slovakia though and got the impression they were really advancing, cute clean well maintained towns etc, I dunno, I think it ain't that bad, it can always be better tho
@@AngelSonevski
Pyonjang looks clean as well.
What i'm saying is just because things look modern and clean doesn't mean that the place is "clean".
There is still a huge ammount of corruption and privatly held power.
I don't think there was anyone else who would have handled it better. It's understandable that the average Russian didn't know the USSR was falling apart at that point. He at least tried to make it as painless and organized as he could. I'm from a former satellite country and to most of us it's almost a miracle we broke free without a major military conflict (even though the 90s for us were also painful chaos and economic downfall).
Honestly, if people want to blame somebody for the fall of the Soviet Union I feel they shoud blame the communist hardliners and Eltsin.
Gorbachev was trying to preserve the USSR by turning it into the "Union of Sovereign States", the plan even had popular support but the hardliners killed the idea with the coup attempt and Eltsin used the opportunity to dissolve the union togheter with the leaders of Belarus and Ukraine.
I think Gorbachev does deserve blame for enabling the hardliners. By the time the coup came, Gorbachev had been warned many times but refused to believe it would happen. By the end, he had wavered back and forth between the liberal side and the hardliners too much. The democratic movement that he started ultimately surpassed him, and I think he does deserve criticism for fighting against that.
Nah Gorbachev gets the blame he deserves.
Had Gorbachev saw through America's shit like Deng Xiaoping did and only enacted limited market reform the USSR would be rivaling China for the top economy with the US falling in 3rd.place.
Gorbachev took Reagan's bait and the rest is history
@@Alex-kd5xc Blame should also be placed on Leonid Brezhnev, whose policies of relying on high oil prices brought stagnation to the SU.
I worked with a Russian engineer who emigrated to USA in the mid 90s, shortly after the CCCP fell. He hated Gorbachev because he said after communism fell, there was a quick power grab where prices inflated quickly and steeply. He said that at least under the soviet system, prices were mostly predictable and somewhat affordable. Vladimir (my Russian coworker) used to say "blehn" a lot.
gorbachev created the power grab :I
@@Tokiiplaysguitar I think that was Yelsin.
Hmmm inflation, higher costs of everything, power grabs. FJB
"blehn" = blyn = "pancake", used as a stand-in for cussing.
@@souvikrc4499 gorbachev was basically a puppet of yeltsin
Whatever mistakes he might have made he had a real heart, not like the other one!
A heart is worthless. The head must prevail.
@@maewest68 You might as well say the head is worthless, the heart must prevail, same difference!
I'm from the UK and I learned about the Cold War when I was in school. We were taught that Gorbachev was a great man who brought freedom to the USSR and the world, but it's nice to see it from both perspectives. History isn't always black and white
I didn't realize how much I wanted a video on Gorbachev's impact until I saw it.
Im from eastern europe and Gorbachev is mostly seen as a guy who destroyed comunist block and set us free.
He was a man who smiled actually. And he tried to be friend also with other country leaders.
Sending my condolences to him for helping end the Cold War, RIP.
When i was in Moscow in 1988 i was shocked to see that the russians already didn't like Gorbatchev very much. In my country East-Germany he was kind of a superhero since he brought freedom of speech. When the soviet union collapsed russia fell into poverty, crime, brutal violence and corruption of epic proportions. And believe it or not, the russians already sensed in 1988 what was about to come. I had no clue, but they did. They don't hate him because he brought freedom or some bullshit the west tells. They hate him because he brought a decade of doom.
Did Russia _have to_ fall into poverty though? They had plenty of land, resources and educated workforce, no? They could prosper just fine without having to ever resort to this imperialist BS...
@@kyjo72682 you lose sight of the fact that all these resources do not belong to the Russian people.
in general, the West should be grateful to some extent, thousands of Russian highly qualified specialists leave here every year because they do not want to work for a cashier's salary. we have far(!!) from the worst education. at least according to the Education Index(UN)
education does not apply to me, I speak very poorly. I have problems with google, I would use a translator
We cant forget how much suffering and cultural oppression the people outside russia suffered under the ussr though. The ussr basically made the most of the economy subservent to the needs of russia as i recall, even now in energy, the former ussr countries are trying to break this dependence. Im not surprised it was hard, most of eastern europe and large parts of the former ussr wanted nothing to do with russia anymore and oriented west as i read. Centuries of historic imperialism by the russian empire whether under communism or tsarism just left a bad taste in the mouth. Its sad to see where russia has gone now though, and i hope it leave ukraine peacefully...and builds a new more cooperative country.
First adequate comment around Gorby's fans
@@abcdedfg8340 yes, build a more cooperative Ukraine, that would be the good ending
Roman, excellent analysis on Gorbachev and freedom and liberty, just spectacular analysis and insight for a TH-cam travel vlogger. Keep going keep filming and speaking and speaking your mind, you are bridging the gap between generations and countries with journalism and interviews. It's an art form and craft what you are doing. Keep perfecting it. Love this video.
Agree Christine. Roman's presentation was excellent & his personality & prior videos mean that I feel able to trust him that he's genuinely trying to explain what he feels without pushing a particular line. We get very little of this when the subject of Russia comes up as it evokes very strong emotions in everyone
I dont think there is that much negativity towards Gorbachev in Eastern Europe, he freed us from the Russian concentration camp at the end of the day, and we will always remember that, not what else happened.
freed from what? lol
@@JamesBond-cq2ti Look into the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
@@JamesBond-cq2ti He stopped the Brezhnev doctrine of limited sovereignty of Eastern European countries and let them do what they wanted. We will be always grateful to him for that.
@@benitomoussoli4646 Switzerland is small as is the Netherlands and Belgium, what's your point? You can say the same exact thing about Ireland, and would you justify Britian if they were to take over Ireland again and suppressed the Irish people and there culture as the Soviets did with the Baltic people?
@@benitomoussoli4646 You know what I actually mean, the entirety of the island without any independent Irish state. And the people of Northern Ireland choose to stay, the rest choose to leave. The Baltics were never given the choice to be apart of any union, the red army overthrew there original governments and insert communist puppets that allowed the Soviets to annex their countries.
This is the best, most accurate and informational video you have posted here thus far, Roman. Realizing myself, of course, that every country in the world -- the USA included -- has its own share of problems and its sociopolitical dysfunctions, I really feel that you are now beginning to help your own countrymen come to a more correct realization of what has actually been ailing Russia for so very long. Keep up the good work, Roman! There is still hope for your country, so please don't get discouraged.
'Gorbachev gave Russians freedom'.
What freedom? Freedom from guaranteed housing? Freedom from being able to live well in retirement?
May he rest in piss.
Did you sleep through history class or does something like this not exist where you come from?
@@4cps777 I literally live here.
What 'freedom' did he give to anybody? I still can't get an answer out of you people. Seems like just another meaningless buzzword.
He mostly just tanked the economy of the USSR, cut welfare, and his efforts led to the transition to capitalism (meaning, in particular, that a lot of people lost housing and jobs). What sort of 'freedom' was that?
@@thetaomegatheta You're just expressing your opinion to an European over an American service. Do you really think any of this would've been possible before Gorbachev?
@@4cps777
Ah, yes, the old 'Vuvuzela no iphon' argument.
1) I do like this game. Your PC, a piece of technology invented by public institutions, communicates with other computers over long-distances using technological developments from the Russian Empire, as well as developments from quantum physics, a field with seminal works produced by a German socialist who fled nazis to the US.
Or, as an alternative: one of the founders of Alphabet Inc., a company up the chain of ownership of TH-cam, is a son of a Soviet mathematician who emigrated from the USSR.
I can sling more similar examples at you.
2) What I think would have been possible without Gorbachyov's reforms is for millions of people to not lose their housing, jobs, and lives. For millions of people to not get their standards of living cut down the way Gorbachyov and Yeltsin did. For this century's genocides in Ukraine, Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan.
And yes, this would have been possible too. Not sure why you think that murderous reforms are necessary to give people access to the internet when Cuba, while being under NATO's genocidal blockade, still manages to both be primarily a planned economy and give people access to the internet.
3) You are yet to tell me what 'freedoms' Gorbachyov gave to anybody.
@@thetaomegatheta You didn't answer my question and you completely missed the point of it. Does your troll farm not provide you with an adequate copypasta response to such a simple question?
For me as a Hungarian Gorbachov and Reagan was the two most important person as a politician, who was real impact for my life. The whole perestroika showed us something, what we never experienced before: we fight for our freedom in 1956, but those who crushed our revolution on a very bloody way was on the power with the tanks of the USSR. Than arrived this man, Gorbachew from the nothing, and in the time, when noone expected he started to talk about freedom, and our freedom-crusher communist leadership started to fear: the goodness now arrived from the East! Yes, it was bloodless in Hungary and Poland in 1989, it was tighter in GDR and Czechslovakia, but without blood. Everything changed just through few years, and I felt that the pointless, useless system faling into pieces, and starting something better. I was 18 in 1989....
Thank you dear Mr. Gorbachev, rest in peace!
At the end of the cold war, Hungary seemed to be a country that was as liberal and open as it could be under Soviet rule, the country that lifted the iron curtain as soon as they realised that Russia was no longer keeping up the pressure. But nowadays... What happened to those attitudes? Why are so many people voting to have their freedoms curtailed?
@@nucderpuck Because - instead of the false news - nobody curtaining our freedom. Hungary is still a classical liberal democracy, not perfect of course, but liberal. The only what Hungary rejecting is the neoliberalism, the bias leftist opinion terror , the mainstream influence, that on the shadow of freedom they destroying such values as tradition, religion, family. We are now in a very different age, as in the 90s, and we see how the neoliberal west destroying itself with it's woke and cancelculture, paralel societies, and we don't want to fall nto the same mistakes....And most importantly: we want to keep our souvereignity, what we take back after so much suffering.
Don't forget, that Hungary now part of the western world, and our fights legal fights in the other western societies too - this is why it was so big impact for them. Trump could won, because of these dimensions, and the fact, that the globalist corporate elite with its politicians cutted itself from the people after the 2000s, and their effort, to install a hegemonic (neo)liberal world order created a new space for new political movements, who rejecting this....Hungary belonging to this pioneer new conservativism - and this still very far from anyithing, what we can see in Russia....
@@kevhynaleks2631 So why oligarchy is better than the corporatocracy, I am curious?
@@CriftPro They are exactly same, but with one key deference. With the globalocracy the profit leaving our country immediately: to their homeland, and generating there GDP. With the oligarchy (if these are state-controlled oligarchs) their profit not leave the country, but turning back to the economy.
Btw. Hungary don't really have oligarchs, the richest people owning some 5-10% of that amount of money, what the real oligarchs in Ukraine or Russia.
And the most important: the hungarian system very different, than in Eastern Europe: it's a market economy, with 70% of foreign multinational companies. The left 30% sharing between hungarian companies - our "smalligarchs" arriving from there...
If anything Brezhnev should've gotten the "killed the USSR" label
Thanks for addressing this-one of the first things I thought when I heard about Gorby’s death was, “I wonder is Roman has any thoughts about this, or is he too young to care?” Your insights, as always, are fascinating.
As funny as it is, I seriously think that the Pizza Hut comercial he was in perfectly portrais what he did.
Because of him, there was an economic crisis and political instability, but he also gave hope and freedom to soviet citizens they never had before.
"Because of him we have many things. Like Pizza Hut..."
Edit: "He caused" replaced with "Because of him". Minor detail, but makes a difference and it's more like in the comercial.
A soothing cream on top of ruined country with poor population, peak 90s
Gorbachev inherited a nearly bankrupt USSR from previous Soviet leaders. He didn't "cause" an economic crisis, it was already in the making. He only pressed the fast-forward button to speed up the inevitable.
He didn’t give anyone freedom.
Do you think Hitler wanted Germany to lose ?
"he caused an economic crisis" so nothing to do with decades of ineffective Soviet economic policies then 😂
@@prplt
The soviet economy was fine tf you on about.
The great depression happened under crapitalism.
His reforms would probably have worked had they been introduced a decade earlier. Unfortunately, the economic stagnation had gone on for so long that it would take a long time to see any improvement and the collapse was inevitable by the time he introduced them. He probably sped up the process but he certainly didn’t cause it.
Not even.
His reforms.were given to him by the US that were deliberately designed to.destroy the USSR.
Had Gorbachev saw through America's shit like China did and only enacted limited market reform while supporting state enterprises and maintaining CPSU rule then the USSR would be rivaling China today as the #1 economy with the US decling to 4th place behind Japan who doesn't have to.abide by the Plaza Accords they were bullied into.
does freedom mean much when your countries economy is absolutely demolished and your country is run by unfathomably rich oligarchs
That's the liberal view of the word "Freedom" for ya!
If you look at it the other way: The absence of freedom does not automatically mean the presence of comfort.
I am extremely lucky to have gotten out of Russia in the 90s. Having grown up in the States, I only saw people seeing the dissolution as a "victory" and as solely a good thing.
What I'd love to see you do a video essay on is the referendum to preserve the Union that Gorbachev sponsored, how it was viewed, just how trustworthy it was, how it impacted people's views and expectations, and your opinions! 😊
We in Estonian loved the collapse of the ussr, this ended the illegal soviet occupation and we finally got our freedom. So thank you very much Gorbachev may he rest in peace!
Yeah, we wish you all the same good leader. So, that you know your country will collapse and Russians in narva will get their freedom from illegal occupation.
@@Admin-gm3lc Russians in Narva can just move to Russia. Narva is and has always been Estonian and Finnic
@@Admin-gm3lc After the second world War, Ussr did not let its original native inhabitants back to the city and it brought russian immigrant workers to populate the city. Now those russians are free to leave Narva and go back to Russia, no one is holding them here.
@@moisuomi fake
Estonia is a creation of Lenin
Lithuania is lhe only OG baltic country that existed before USSR.
@@moisuomi Estonians can move to their homeland in Siberia. Narva was Russian in 1897 before Estonia was created and ethically cleansed them. Most of Estonian lands are Stolen from Russia, even the Capital of Estonia is the russian city of Kolyvahn'
I love this kind of content, I love contrasting what I've heard from western media and history to you and your fellow Russians experiences. Keep this up!
As an American, I found this video very educational. Thank you for making it.
The freedom to starve is difficult to love. But Gorbachov was probably the only idealist ever to rule Russia/the SU. Hundreds of millions were feed by him.
In East Germany 1989 we know we had it coming. They were showing us the pictures from China, the Tiana'men square in TV at length so we knew what happen to us if we tried. It was Gorbachov who said the Soviet Army would stay in their barracks. Without that backing our regime could not risk driving their tanks over us. I will be forever grateful.
Thoughtful explanation- very helpful for Western audiences. The dam was about to burst and he tried to manage the process to ensure some basic liberties for average citizens when things settled. No matter the failures, I think his motivations were sincere- but that’s of little value when daily life is a brutal struggle. Great video.
The, system he inherited was dysfunctional. It was stagnating. He tried to carry out necessary reforms. He is a great man, because when the day comes that Russians do gain their freedom, they will remember Gorbachev as the man who started it all.
I'm impressed you managed to press so much history into a 17-minute video! I learned so much
Honestly, I watched almost all of your videos from 3 years ago to now. This may be your best video yet, that was well explained, interesting, well documented. You taught me a lot. Thank you for this Roman. Appreciate your work. See u, from France ;)
Mr Gorbachev! Thank you for trying! RIP
My family has a very conflicted feeling with Gorbachev, He caused more hunger than was usually felt in the Soviet Republics and cause other economic problems, BUT he also facilitated Their countries independence and dissolution of the Soviet union.
@Daniel Lopez; I do not think that it was HIM who "caused the hunger", that was inevitable because the Stalin communist regime was already collapsing. He just "inherited" those problems.
This was a good and insightful video. Its great to hear a Russian talk about Gorbachev, since usually it is as you said and he's portrayed in a positive light in western media, even here where our economy also took the biggest nosedive in our history because of the Soviet Union's fall. Gorbachev was definitely not a good leader, but he had good ideas. It was at a very unfortunate and tumultuous time though and maybe not the right moment. I watch your videos sometimes but this one earned my subscription, however little that may be.
He's not even a good person, when his own country(after fall of ussr) faced with a massive economic crisis and crime level, he just ran away at West with a lot of money.
He's a traitor for us
Thank you for your perspective. Those of us who are not Russian need Russians to explain the Gorbachev years to us in a dispassionate way. You were very balanced.
Freedom is a strange word for economic collapse
That is such a backwards way to look at things.
I don’t understand how people like you exist
@@kevinweltje4604 if US president collapsed the united states and let half of the states in the union fall into poverty and the other half under influence of China you wouldnt call it freedom.
@@djocharablaikan8601 stupid. USSR's fall was inevitable: ineffective planned economy, corruption, Afghanistan war going badly. Unlike US states, the USSR republics and Warsaw pact states wanted independence and russians had to use force to keep them in. The only thing saving USSR during Breznev times was oil, but its prices also crashed in 1980s. Gorbachev was a captain of a ship that had already started sinking hard.
One of your best videos Roman! This was quite enlightening to watch. Keep it up!
Btw. Did you know in Sweden we have a frozen fast food/Microwave item named after Gorbachev? Gorby's Pirog, it is a Karelian style pirogi.
It also has a "competitor" made by the same company, its called Billy's (Bill Clinton) Pan Pizza.
Whatever I cried when Volvo Died....
is pirogi like little pies in Poland? or big pies in Russia(it looks like a closed round pizza)?
small pies are called pirozhki
For former countries of the Warsaw Pact Gorbachev is a hero. Someone who took away the threat of Soviet retaliation if we fall out of line and allowed the democratisation of the block. The final regaining of the freedom. We no longer had to do what USSR leader said or send big chunk of what we produced to the big brother for close to nothing. We no longer had to fear invasion and the Soviet troops stationed in our countries left. Our countries were finally our own. He was revered in the 90s and still remembered as a great man.
I understand why Russians think differently. What was our gain was Russia's loss. I was in Russia in mid 90s and it was heartbreaking how bad everything has fallen apart. While we were already coming out of the worst effects of the fall of communism Russia was still completely in inflation spiral. I always understood why Putin got so popular because I saw how bad it was during Yeltsyn times. He restored a semblance of stability so people keep him in power in to avoid bad times happening again. Still, I wish you got someone who could've reset your economy without dictatorship. Because sooner or later this always leads to some desperate grasps on power. But I suppose for Russians a war for distraction is better than more repressions.
The economy stabilising was not Putins achievement. It was just a consequence of high oil prices.
The same stuff happened in Kazakhstan, where Nazarbayev was in power 1991-2019
Of couse a 24 year old indoctrinated liberal has no idea of the horrible effects of Gorbachev's policies that completely destroyed the USSR's economy and caused the worst economic crisis in history, a decrease in life expectancy of 10 years in peace time(worst in history), rampant inflation, unemployment, mortality rate, poverty, suicide rate, drug use, homelessness, deaths from hunger and cold, lack of access to healthcare, de-industrialization, conflicts between different republics that had been in peace with each other for at least 70 years, while a few bureaucrats turned oligarchs and drug lords got ridiculously rich by buying the State's enterprizes for 2% of their value and were given the control over the most important sectors of the economy. Gorbachev gave the people freedom, the freedom to be unemployed and live under a bridge and die of hunger. I doubt that the oligarchs used that freedom though, only the workers did.
Thanks for a great video. I would love to see more videos like this talking about your country's history and culture and how it is viewed by different people.