I thought you were around for the Cold War.
Still have some 'CCCP' swag from it. Crimean, Civil, yup, yup
Most obituaries are framing Gorbachev positively as "the man who ended the Cold War," which ignores the disastrous impact the dissolution of the USSR had on the population as well as the direct path leading to what Russia has become today.
Ignores what? While perestroika initially did give rise to bad elements of capitalism (shortages, black markets) at the same time price controls were being removed in spots, they were still subject to a lot of the prevailing bureaucratic models that were kept in place which allowed communist officials to resist those policies that did not benefit them personally. Sidenote: and putting most of their externally-generated income in the proverbial 'one basket' (oil/energy) didn't help. In any event, in the end, Gorbachev dropping the Brezhnev Doctrine
("N.B. satellite states: you're free to *cough* 'self-determination'....provided....or else...") sped up the dissolution of the Soviet empire and by extention the Iron Curtain. Then: Iron Curtain. Post USSR: Iron Maiden.
Your mileage may vary but in the big, eventual picture the dissolution of the Iron Curtain was a good thing; again just my opinion not to mention Czechoslovakia, Hungry, Poland, the Baltic states, East Germany, etc., etc. Certainly better than the days of Nikki Khrushchev pounding his winged tips on U.N. tables while snarling
"we will bury you!"Hungary '56, Prague '68....
the Cuban Missile Crisis??!!..... ah the good ol' days........bad enough we were suckered into 'Nam...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS5_EQgbuLc
