Jack F. Matlock: "Mikhail Gorbachev «The New Russia»"

 

Now, a quarter-century later, rhetoric emanating from Moscow and Washington resembles that of the Cold War.  Government officials and armchair strategists in both capitals speak of geopolitical competition in terms that were once reserved for the struggle between “Communist slavery” and the “Free World.” They seem to ignore the fact that Russia is no longer Communist and is, in most respects, a totally different state than was the Soviet Union.

 

Anyone puzzled by the way the unity and hope of the early 1990s has morphed to the division and fear we are experiencing today will benefit from reading and pondering Mikhail Gorbachev’s latest book, The New Russia.  Its contents cover more than its English title suggests: while it does give the reader a running account of events in Russia after it shed the other fourteen republics of the Soviet Union, it contains much more. The Russian title, Posle Kremlya (After the Kremlin), is more apt since the book presents important thoughts regarding history, democracy, international relations, and the external events that influenced Russia’s revival of authoritarianism.