Word: gorbachev
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...next afternoon it was a different man who received TIME for the magazine's third interview in five years. Gorbachev had clearly decided to use the session to counteract the widespread impression that his presidency was mortally wounded by what several of his advisers had earlier in the week called the "second coup...
...stunning transformation. The Mikhail Gorbachev who had appeared on Soviet television Thursday evening was a defeated man -- exhausted, disgusted, frustrated, fed up, ready to quit. Even the commentator on the relatively pro- Gorbachev state TV network described the performance as having the look and feel of a "farewell interview...
...from throwing in the towel, Gorbachev came out fighting, lambasting the leaders of Russia, Belorussia and Ukraine for their declaration of a "commonwealth" to replace the U.S.S.R. Yet in classic fashion Gorbachev managed to combine conciliation with combativeness...
Essentially he reiterated the case against the commonwealth -- then offered to help bring it about. Gorbachev still saw himself as the indispensable man, the only figure on the political stage who can avert civil war, who can keep the army under control, who can bring Slavs and Muslims together, who can prevent the hungry, angry, impatient populace from pouring into the streets and providing a pretext for another rightist coup...
There were, as a good Marxist might say, contradictions in Gorbachev's claim to leadership of a cause that represents a repudiation of him personally, a cause he continues to denigrate as not in the country's best interests. But the performance was nothing less than a tour de force. He was at his most formidable steamrolling over the gaps and rough spots in the logic of his own position...