by Eze Eluchie,
Young and
bright, with a meteoric rise on the leadership ladder of the Communist Party of
the former Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, spending a mere 6 years from
when he became a member of the Politiburo (1979), to when he became the Party’s
General Secretary (1985) the selection of Mikhail Gorbachev as the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme
Soviets (an election that had been predicted by some influential western media
outlets over a decade ago) proved to be a monumental landmark in the history of
the modern world.
After months
of promoting ‘freedoms’ and ‘liberal’ approach to governance under ‘Glassnot’(openness)
and ‘Perestroika’ (‘economic’ restructuring), to a people who had known lifetimes of authoritarian rule and
were used to strong central authority, it was clear to discerning observers
that Mikhail Gorbachev had ideas which were very distant from those of the founding
fathers and leadership (Politiburo) of the Soviet Union. As the consequences of
Glassnot and Perestroika unravelled, the world watched in astonishment as the
alternate ‘super-power’, the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics {USSR}, which
has often times served as a counter-balancing factor in global affairs, disintegrated
with stunning rapidity.
Within a
period of 6 years, from his ascendance into office as President of the USSR,
Mikhail Gorbachev had incredulously achieved the destruction of what had taken
previous occupants of the Presidency of the USSR over 70 years to accomplish –
the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the emergence in its place of 15
Republics, with more agitation for more divisions.
In all his
exploits, Mikhail Gorbachev, who in his later life has severally regretted his
ignoble role in the destruction of the Soviet Union, had maintained close
friendship with then United States President, Ronald Reagan.
Fast-forward
to Year 2017. A President emerges in the United States, who has little to no
experience of the workings of the democratic structures and governance
mechanisms, and who in his own words, has enormous ‘respect’ and affinity with
the Russian leader. Like Gorbachev before him, new US President Donald Trump, with
great haste, embarks on courses of action that go to challenge the very
fundamentals of the American system,: attacking Free-Trade and Globalization
with relish (withdrawing from mutually agreed international treaties and
discountenancing rules of free trade); promoting discriminatory and divisive
policies (exhibiting mannerisms which inspire increased racist and xenophobic
sentiments); utter disregard for the Media and freedom of speech(constantly
railing against the media for publishing ‘uncomfortable truths’); holding the
Judiciary and Judges in disdain and odium (mocks Judges who arrive at decisions
he finds inconvenient) and so on.
Already as a
result of the policies and action of President Trump, talks of a split from the
United States by some of its constituent States (particularly California) are
already been insinuated. If the current trajectory is maintained, the future will
certainly become murkier.
The similarities
in mannerisms, antecedents and activities of US President Donald Trump and
former leader of the Soviet Union are so worrisomely close that one wonders if
indeed the same outcomes are indeed the desired objectives.
With benefit
of hindsight and the goings on across the Middle East, it can be successfully
argued that the overall utility of the
disintegration of the Soviet Union to the international community is at the
very least, questionable, and very likely unfortunate. A repeat of a collapse
of a super power should at all costs be avoided.
Picture: Mikhail
Gorbachev and Donald Trump
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