Gorbachev chides US for 'superiority'

Herald Sun ^ | 3 March 2006 | Marina Lapenkova

[Aussie Dasher]

FORMER Soviet leader and Nobel peace prize laureate Mikhail Gorbachev has turned 75, bitter that the end of the Cold War has left the United States with what he called a "superiority complex".

"It would be in everyone's interest if that big country America recovered from that disease," he said.

Mr Gorbachev, who launched the democratic and economic reforms that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, described the end of the Cold War as a gift that the United States has squandered.

He also denounced growing Russophobia, saying "some in the West would like to see Russia strangled".

"Russia, with its enormous intellectual and military potential, and control of 42 per cent of the world's natural reserves, elicits fear in the West, and even our friends today fear a renaissance of the Russian empire," he said.

The collapse of the Soviet Union, which dented national prestige, left Mr Gorbachev unpopular at home, with many considering that he served as a Trojan horse for the West.

[Aussie Dasher]

If only The Great Ronald Reagan was still with us to take Gorby aside and explain the facts of modern life...

[dfwgator]

the United States with what he called a "superiority complex".

That's only because we really are better than everybody else.

[darkangel82]

Shut up Gorbachev, you're still a Commie.

[Marine_Uncle]

Mister Bozo. Tear down that wall!

[American Quilter]

"Russia, with its enormous intellectual and military potential, and control of 42 per cent of the world's natural reserves, elicits fear in the West, and even our friends today fear a renaissance of the Russian empire," he said.

That may be difficult to pull off. I understand Russia's population is decreasing and their lifespans shortening.

[SkyPilot]

As Margaret Thatcher told you Gorby, the Soviet Union had lumber, oil, coal, diamonds, gold, minerals, and a vast labor force - and you guys ran the country into the ground, violently oppressed your own citizens, and produced an economy that was the envy of Bangladesh.

Go preach to yourself.

[Indy Pendance]

What, Russia's been around for centuries, and poor little America, only 230 years makes this former maphead squeel? LOL... Remember the gorby imposter? Who's who?

[pikachu]

He also denounced growing Russophobia, saying "some in the West would like to see Russia strangled".

Giving reactors to Iran, UN oil for food fraud, screwing up oil markets, keeping Iran from getting sactions from the Security Council ... Maybe spanked instead if strangled.

[oldleft]

Mr Gorbachev, who launched the democratic and economic reforms that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991

Are f****n kidding me? He was trying to save the Soviet Union!

[montomike]

From CIA world factbook

GDP (official rate)

Russia 740.7 Billion with a B
US 12,770 Billion with a B

2005 Estimate

Gorby, talk to the hand!

[Ukiapah Heep]

It looks like Russia is doing a good job of strangling itself.

[fml]

Are f****n kidding me? He was trying to save the Soviet Union!

You lost me

[dfwgator]

If Gorbachev could have kept the Soviet Union the way it was under Brezhnev, he would have done so. Reagan and Thatcher's policies forced his hand.

[Pittsburg Phil]

"some in the West would like to see Russia strangled"

No, nobody want to stangle Russia, just all the commies for the tens of millions they helped murder. And this is not murder; it's justice I'm talking about.

[elcid1970]

Message to Mikhail Sergeyevich:

Hey, loser! Your sh!t's over!

And the New Russia is doing a pretty good job of strangling itself. Misha! How does the world's highest abortion rate grab ya?

Blame those clever American imperialist capitalist warmongers!

[Proud_USA_Republican]

The commies at the MSM will never forgive him for closing down the USSR.

[MikefromOhio]

the US chides Gorby for being a loser with puddin' on his head :)

[adam_az]

He also denounced growing Russophobia, saying "some in the West would like to see Russia strangled".


He sounds like certain Freepers.

[dfwgator]

No, nobody want to stangle Russia, just all the commies for the tens of millions they helped murder.

And Gorby certainly made a contribution to that number on his watch.

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

That's only because we really are better than everybody else.

It's the system that is better and you just happened to be lucky enough to be born into it. Your comment basically reinforces his claim. Arrogance is greatest before a fall. Perhaps you should try and stay humble as God would have you.

[weegee]

Would the Commie care to point out which country is better overall?

[hgro]

Anyone who has ever had to opportunity to actually see Russia personally will know that Gorby is full of it. The Russion country side and villages are pathetic. Living conditions in the former commie paradise big cities by any standard are the same. The evidence in just one area is the rampant alcoholism of people trying to retreat from their miserable lives.

[ImpotentRage]

Doesn't the "bitter" Mr. Gorbachev live here in the United States? Doesn't he have some sort of foundation that is headquartered in San Francisco? Seems to me I read that somewhere. Perhaps he likes the living conditions, etc., that this country with the "superiority complex" is able to afford him.

[mkjessup]

Pay no attention to Gorby, he is obligated to occasionally spout off with some anti-U.S. rhetoric, so nobody begins to believe the rumors that he was in fact, the most well placed and well paid CIA mole to ever burrow into the Kremlin, all the way to the top.

NICE JOB GORBY! :)

PS- You ARE getting direct deposit now, aren't you? So much easier than having to sign and deposit those checks each month, know what I mean? ;)

[razoroccam]

Tragic thing is that if Russia had been free, open, and democratic, companies such as Sikorski (helicopters) and MGM would have been in Russia, and not the US.

It is amazing, being an immigrant myself, that other countries do not recognize this simple fact - it is freedom (economic, political, religious), and if a country denies it to its citizens, it will never amount to much in the long term.

[dfwgator]

Alright, alright, I guess I should have indicated the statement was made somewhat toungue-in-cheek.

_{But we really are better. :)}

[Cyclopean Squid]

From one of history's most inept leaders (second only to Mao, in my opinion).

[dfwgator]

Mao may have been evil, but hardly inept in terms of keeping his power. Now Jimmy Carter, that's inept.

[oldleft]

He knew the Soviet Union was going to collapse so he instigated some market reforms in an attempt to save the country. The last thing he wanted was a disintegration of the Soviet Union.

[newnhdad]

Gorbawho? I didn't know he was still alive. Last time I saw this bozo he was licking Ronald Reagan's shoes.

[mountn man]

Russia (USSR) attacks Afghanistan for what, 14 years? And retreat leaving destruction and mamed children.

The US attacks Afghanistan (the Taliban) and removes government from power in what 2 months? And while we are still there, we are building schools and hospitals, and utility infrastructures. Pushing Afghanistan into the modern world (or at least into the later 19th century).

Superiority? No air of superiority here. Its all fact.

[Cyclopean Squid]

No, the Great Leap Forward is the policy of a simpleton who had no understanding of reality. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was pure chaos and completely disastrous. Mao was a great revolutionary, but an awful ruler.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

The Soviets had a neurotic inferiority complex for 70 years.........well deserved.

[BunnySlippers]

I'm thinking of Daniel Pipes's opinion piece in the WSJ this week. Fits this to a tee.

[BunnySlippers]

The Jimmuh Carter of Russia.

[prophetic]

Would the Commie care to point out which country is better overall?

and besides being nearky piss poor, they are still pouring 45% of their budget into weapons & nukes like the cold war never ended!!

[F16Fighter]

"Russia, with its enormous intellectual and military potential, and control of 42 per cent of the world's natural reserves, elicits fear in the West, and even our friends today fear a renaissance of the Russian empire," he [Gorbachev] said.

Despite his having a gorbasm as he made this pronouncement, Russia "elicits fear in the fact" only because it is notoriously treacherous, duplicitous, and paranoid.

This make it unworthy of trust.

[mkjessup]

That's only because we really are better than everybody else.

It's the system that is better and you just happened to be lucky enough to be born into it. Your comment basically reinforces his claim. Arrogance is greatest before a fall. Perhaps you should try and stay humble as God would have you.

Well SOMEBODY had to build that system, it didn't just appear magically in 1776.

America has given more to the world, and asked for damn near nothing in return, more than any other nation on Earth. When there is a disaster in the world, it is America that everyone turns to with their hand stretched out for help. When the oppressed are praying for freedom, it is invariably America who delivers that freedom to them. America has given away billions upon billions of dollars to those in need, only to be pissed on by ungrateful slobs who lack the intellectual firepower to resist the never-ending America-hating which is a regular staple of the Euro-weenie crowd, who had to depend on America not once, but twice, to save them from tyrants run amok.

Even post 9/11, the #1 destination of immigrants all over the world is America, they swim, they sail, they walk, they crawl, they fly, they DIE in their efforts to reach U.S. soil and the freedoms and opportunities that America represents.

What you are mistaking for arrogance in Dfwgator is pride in his Country, which isn't misplaced. There is an old saying, something along the lines of "it ain't braggin, if it's true". And the truth is, Americans are among the most generous and compassionate people on the face of the planet, and were it not for the United States and Ronald Reagan, YOU my FRiend from Germany just might be answering to the likes of Erich Honecker even today. Make no mistake about it, due to the perseverence and courage of leaders like Reagan and Thatcher, the West won the Cold War, and Soviet Communism died, and not a moment too soon.

Does that make Americans better than everyone else? That's not up to me to say, but the world sure forgets in a hurry that they were only one superpower away from a global Soviet Empire until that final collapse of the U.S.S.R.

You're Welcome.

[lawgirl]

sour grapes?

[PsyOp]

Having a well deserved "superiority complex" is better than a well deserved "inferiority complex". As for who has squandered the gift of the end Cold War, I would suggest it is Russia, not, not America who pissed it away.

You're a "Loser" Gorby. Reagan in his grave is more of man than you are today.

[MARKUSPRIME]

Exactly. Same euros,russians and now chinese that are jealous and hateful towards the US. Who cares, we will keep doing what we do and they will continue to hate us and spew their ignorant anti-american diatribes. I am proud to have been born here and I have been all over the world. They are no place like the good old USofA and it just drives the eurotrash(your socilialist system is communism lite and destroys innovation) mad. Which is rather hilarious and entertaining!

[PsyOp]

RE: post #7.

The Energizer Commie... He keeps on lying, and lying, and lying...

[FierceDraka]

Ol' Gorby needs to have a nice big glass of STFU and vodka.

In the words of Patrick Swayze's character from Red Dawn before he shot the Communist invader in the face, "YOU LOSE!"

[PsyOp]

You lost me.

Gorbachev's reforms were an attempt to save the soviet communist system (he said so in his book). Glastnost & Perestroika had the effect of checking the gas level in your tank with match.

[rogue yam]

It's the system that is better and you just happened to be lucky enough to be born into it.

This is unfair. The U.S. Constitution is a work of political genius, to be sure. But a lot has happened here since the Constitution was ratified in 1789. In the 1970s we were in danger of losing everything to the socialists. But the American people wisely chose the course of freedom. And we will continue to do so. Was Clarence Thomas lucky to become as capable and visionary as he is? Did he wind up on the Supreme Court by luck? Of course not. Justice Thomas worked hard and according to a vision to become what he is. And he was appointed through the vision and hard work of many others (and he was confirmed despite the strident opposition of the socialists). This is not luck, and it is not a well-crafted system running on auto-pilot. Good things happen because good people conceive of them and then work to make them happen. This is why we have Justice Alito instead of Harriet Meiers. This sort of thing, large and small, happens in America every day. That is why we are still free.

[MNJohnnie]

US Chides Gorbachev for gross inferiority.

[PsyOp]

The Jimmuh Carter of Russia.

LOL! That just about says it all. Except he has none of Jimmuh's southern charm and personality. Incompetent and droll.

[MadIvan]

Gorbachev is quite possibly one of the most stupid men to have ever ruled Russia. Upon getting into office, one of his first acts was to attempt to clamp down on alcohol consumption.

In Russia? (As was obvious, the moonshine industry exploded overnight).

Regards, Ivan

[fml]

Sure, but in the end it still turned out to be the downfall

He tried and failed, that is his legacy actually

[PsyOp]

Didn't I say that? I thought I said that. He had no clue what he was doing, it blew up in his face, and he's been scratching his head over it ever since. He even makes Carter look like a political genius.