(01-28-2017, 10:30 AM)Tobi Wrote: I feel awfuly negative 'vibes' from many politicians. It may be a bad idea for me to name them, but just about every one. Two exceptions, in current times....Teresa May, UK prime minister, and Barack Obama. I wasn't even sure of Mr Gorbachev at first but things worked out pretty well with him in many ways.
Regarding Theresa May, I agree totally. She is an honest and practical woman: a rarity in politics! Barack Obama did a lot of good, but he was quite hostile about Russia, possibly under the guidance of so-called defence "experts" (the same sort of people who assured Bush that Iraq was full of weapons of mass destruction).
I agree with much of what you have all written about Trump, especially concerning the environment. But his desire to strengthen ties with the UK is good. He is also currently resisting the pressure of so-called defence experts to make relations with Russia even colder than they are now - with the risk of bringing nuclear war closer. Trump wants to "defreeze" relations with Russia - and that can't be a bad thing.
However, esteemed Tobi, I cannot agree about Gorbachov. This man is often regarded well in the West, but not in Russia itself. He did reform Communism, but he was still part of the system.
Tobi, my wife lived in Belarus as a young woman, during the the time of Chernobyl. Gorbachov chose to keep the disaster secret from his people for quite a while after it happened. We knew about it sooner in the West! People danced in the streets of Kiev after the accident, after the Communist mayor kept it quiet for fear of panic. Even weddings went ahead:
"Meanwhile in Kiev, citizens went ahead with their May Day parade, five days after the accident, completely unaware of the radiation bearing down on them." - from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4918742.stm
and
http://articles.latimes.com/1991-12-23/n...l-disaster
Highly radioactive clouds were deliberately made to rain over Belarus in order to disperse them before they reached Russian territory. See http://articles.latimes.com/1991-12-23/n...l-disaster
One could argue that he sacrificed lives in Belarus in order to save more lives in Russia, an utilitarian argument which I cannot accept, but even if we accept that justification....he chose to keep the disaster secret from the public until western publicity filtered through and forced him to reveal what had happened. He allowed millions to be exposed to radiation when they could have been warned and could have stayed indoors. That is a terrible crime. Childhood cancers remained very high in Belarus for decades after Chernobyl - something which could have been avoided if Gorbachov had been open sooner about what had happened.
Gorbachov was in later years saved from the ultra-Communist coup plotters (who had him arrested) by the actions of Yeltsin, but now Gorbachov even has the dishonesty to say that he was betrayed! See http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38294498 He wouldn't even be alive today if it weren't for those who rose against Communists. He would have been shot by the hardliners.
Tobi, I always value everything you write. But I cannot agree with Gorbachov being on the list of "goodie politicians". There aren't too many of those. Politics and ethics are uneasy partners, mainly because deception is an accepted part of politics, if a person wants to survive on its "greasy pole".
Sorry about interrupting the discussion of Trump....
