Word: gorbachev
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...Gorbachev's speaking style, usually discursive and indirect, is more hortatory than ever, almost condescending in its certitude. He can pontificate, but then compensates by flashing his grin, bouncing in his chair and making a sweeping gesture to pull in his listeners. There is much that is theatrical in his performance, beginning with his voice, which he projects like an operatic baritone. He takes many questions as personal criticism and obviously believes the best defense is a good offense, demolishing the questioner's premise as he bulldozes into the points he wants to make...
...Gorbachev would not be drawn into an admission that socialist theory had failed or that communism was dead. An alternative between capitalism and socialism is in the offing, he said. The use of force for political ends is being discredited. The 20th century has little to teach the 21st, and new thinking is needed...
...Gorbachev aptly noted that he was the first Soviet President who was neither buried nor arrested but continues to play a visible public role. Russians don't know what to make of this and are suspicious. His foundation and his other activities, he observed, could lead to conflicts with the newly arrived crop of politicians who have much to learn about the give and take of democracy...
...shrugs off threats to his personal safety. She is openly worried. They were in physical danger once and could be again, she fears. She sees threats all around: the Russian press, she says, is mounting an anti-Gorbachev campaign, printing reports that he has bought houses in foreign countries or has smuggled vast sums of money abroad. In a rough-and-tumble society like Russia's, this spells uncertainty at least...
...Gorbachev is outspokenly weary of criticism, from radical reformers and hard-line communists alike. Both sides hated and vilified him for years, he says, but offered no solutions. He calls on those who can solve Russia's problems to speak up and those who cannot to keep quiet. What passes for decisive leadership today, he says -- naming no names -- has done nothing to dampen continuing outbreaks of nationalist upheaval and ethnic bloodletting...