Communist party members lay flowers at Stalins grave

De Sovjet-Unie is definitief dood

Dec 29, 2016 Ghia Nodia

MOSKOU – Dit Nieuwjaar markeert de 25^e verjaardag van de formele ontbinding van de Sovjet-Unie. Maar in plaats van dit feit te vieren, zijn veel Russen – en sommige mensen in het Westen – ambivalent over deze uitkomst.

De Russische president Vladimir Poetin leidt de schare twijfelaars. Hij liet in 2005 weten hoe hij dacht over de desintegratie van de Sovjet-Unie, toen hij dat “een grote geopolitieke tragedie van de 20^e eeuw” noemde. En sommigen in het Westen zien de nieuwe staten die uit de puinhopen tevoorschijn zijn gekomen – Oekraïne en de Baltische republieken, met name – als de voornaamste bron van het Russische ressentiment en revanchisme in de wereld van na de Koude Oorlog.

Deze twijfels staan in scherp contrast met de consensus die vele jaren na de val van het communisme in Europa in 1989-1991 de boventoon voerde. Het werd alom aanvaard dat het einde van de Koude Oorlog niet alleen de bevrijding van Midden- en Oost-Europa betekende, maar ook de triomf van liberale ideeën.

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j. von Hettlingen Dec 30, 2016

Ghia Nodia insists "the Soviet Union is dead for good." Ahead of the 25th anniversary of its dissolution on New Year's Eve, many Russians have no mood to celebrate, least of all Putin. In 2005 he called the event “a major geopolitical tragedy of the twentieth century.” He also begrudges former satellites "that emerged from the wreckage" as new independent states - "Ukraine and the Baltic republics, in particular." This bitter reality has since been "the primary source of Russia’s ressentiment and revanchism" in recent years.
Although it is widely acknowledged that "the end of the Cold War marked not only the liberation of Central and Eastern Europe, but also the triumph of liberal ideas," Putin seems determined to turn the clock back, and not to let the Soviet Union "die completely." The 2008 war with Georgia and the 2014 annexation of Crimea may have satisfied his ego and boosted his popularity at home, but his aggression "has also instilled fear among his neighbors."
Mikhail Gorbachev, George HW Bush and the late German chancellor, Helmut Kohl made history, when the Iron Curtain fell in Europe. The US emerged the winner, thanks partly to its own policies but also to the work of others. For two decades it enjoyed global supremacy as the sole hegemon - a status that has been seen as a thorn in Russia's side.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union still existed, ruled by the Communist Party under Mikhail Gorbachev, who was weakened by a coup in August 1991. The Soviet leader was on holday in Crimea when he was imprisoned in his dacha by a group of plotters - hardline high-ranking officials within the Communist party - who tried and failed to stop his ambitious reforms that had begun shortly after he assumed power in 1985. They worried about Gorbachev's plans to create a looser Russian federation with certain powers devolving to Soviet republics like Ukraine. The plot was devised in the central committee building in Moscow by officials who feared the break-up of the Soviet Union. Russians reacted badly to the news that tanks were deployed. They took to the street, even Boris Yeltsin defiantly opposed it.
As the year 1991 drew to a close, Gorbachev's concern were the independence movements in a number of Soviet republics. On December 8 he signed "the Belovezha Accords, which formalized the break-up of the USSR." The speed of its demise raised fears for the future. Without popular support, the coup lost momentum and within three days it was over. But problems lied ahead for the newly-democratised Russia, which explained why only 14% of Russians view Yeltsin positively today.
The relationship between the dominant Russia and the fledgling sovereign states was problematic. Indeed, few foresaw just how quickly the Soviet Union would be dismantled so swiftly. Yeltsin wasted no time in removing the last vestiges of the Communist party's rule, and Gorbachev began with devolving central power, till he resigned on December 25, 1991. It was an astonishing historical turnaround. Many people - including the author - "in the heyday of the Soviet Union" all thought the USSR and the Cold War would go on indefinitely. "They did not dare to imagine that it would happen in a peaceful and orderly manner."
At the start of 1992, 15 newly-independent states - including Russia led by Yeltsin - stood in place. Given decades of submission to authoritarian rule, their path to self-determination has been tortuous. Democratisation process leaves much to be desired. "Some of these new nation-states have been struggling to develop democratic institutions and viable economies. Others, no surprise, became outright dictatorships." However "they are now accustomed to being the masters of their own fate, /that/ Putin will find this almost impossible to reverse." Indeed, everyone is guessing what else he has in mind to improve his own stature and "restore Russia’s lost greatness?" One thing we know about Putin, he loves to surprise us.
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David Morgan Dec 30, 2016

Russia has the same size economy as Italy, its conventional army is no match for NATO, it does, howver have a large nuclear arsonal which was not used during the Cold War so why would Putin use it now. The international community needs to stand up against him, and make him understand his country is an ex-super power and the sooner he realises it the better.
- S.A R Jan 14, 2017
  
  The lacking size of Soviet Union's economy never held it back from challenging the vastly economically superior U.S. and European powers allied with each other.
  
  It was the nuclear weapons that allowed for the situation to remain stable, as after the Cuban Missile Crisis neither side attempted to gain a decisive edge over the other or engage in nuclear provocations. Today the U.S. has a decisive edge over Russia. This has produced the current global turmoil as it is impossible for Russia to accept, so they must defend their interests extremely aggressively to hold further erosion of their geopolitical position at bay.
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- Alexandr Rubtsov Jan 4, 2017
  
  Международное сообщество должно понять, что рост западных экономик и Китая последние 25 лет вызван распадом СССР. Индустрия Советского союза была разрушена в угоду западным компаниям, которые нарастили производство. И теперь международное сообщество ждёт выбор - или оно добровольно компенсирует России потери или Россия восстановит СССР и сама вернёт себе былое величие.
  И не надо сравнивать экономики Италии и России. Россия прошла кризис, который только предстоит пройти итальянцам. Вот когда их банки обанкротятся, экономика упадёт, а Голдман сакс прибежит скупать подешевевшие итальянские активы, параллельно закрывая всё что может составить конкуренцию американским компаниям, вот тогда сравним экономики. И посмотрим, а не окажется ли Италия не в "международном сообществе", а на одной стороне с Россией?:))
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Val Samonis Dec 29, 2016

RIP.
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