Mikhail S Gorbachev

Gorbachev, railing against capitalism, sounds a lot like Obama

2012-11-06 12:02:00

Less than a week before the U.S. election, former president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev berated America and all but endorsed the sitting president and fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner at an event I attended in Houston. Speaking last Thursday from a...

Soviet fall and Arab Spring

2011-08-18 16:03:00

Twenty years ago, tens of thousands of Russians took to the streets of Moscow, just as Egyptians, Tunisians and Syrians have this year — rejecting the old order, demanding freedom and democracy. That August, the Russian democrats prevailed because...

Pope helped inspire his homeland to fight communism

2005-04-02 00:00:00

BERLIN - Karol Wojtyla became a priest in 1946, just as the Iron Curtain descended across Europe. The inspiration he provided as Pope John Paul II helped to tear it down. Lech Walesa, founder of the Solidarity movement that toppled communism in Poland in...

Memorable quotes

2004-06-06 00:00:00

- "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Breen." When someone tried to turn off his microphone at a Reagan-sponsored debate during 1980 New Hampshire primaries. - "We have to move ahead, but we are not going to leave anyone behind." Republican National...

Reagan was his rival, friend, Gorbachev says

2004-06-07 00:00:00

MOSCOW - When President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the Soviet Union an "evil empire," some saw it as political theater, a Cold Warrior's script. Yet former Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev said yesterday that the American president was sincere - an honest...

A nation pays its respects

2004-06-10 00:00:00

WASHINGTON - The somber traditions of a nation in mourning suffused Ronald Reagan's last journey yesterday as his flag-draped casket traveled from California to the nation's capital for a cortege through the city and an elaborate funeral at the Capitol,...

Unexpected allies put end to Cold War

2004-06-11 00:00:00

WASHINGTON -- Among the crush of foreign dignitaries paying final respects to Ronald Reagan at the National Cathedral today will be one man -- recognizable by his intense gaze, easy grin and the rose-colored birthmark on his forehead -- who shares...

Final farewells to 'historic leader'

2004-06-11 00:00:00

WASHINGTON -- A weeklong ritual of national mourning and remembrance concludes today when President Bush and other world leaders offer final farewells to Ronald Reagan at a ceremony at Washington's National Cathedral, before the former president's remains...

Veteran warns of Afghan fight

2001-09-21 00:00:00

MOSCOW - Dmitri Popov was standing guard over a Soviet Army camp in the cold, rugged mountains of northeast Afghanistan one night when he spotted a boy with a metal rod approaching. Twice before, he says, children had surprised sleeping sentries in...

Mathias may be out of the Senate, but not out of world affairs

1991-03-25 00:00:00

When are goals ever truly realized in international affairs?

2013-04-02 16:30:07

PARIS -- It is, I suppose, too discouraging to face the fact that in international affairs (and indeed in national affairs; but that is another subject) paradox and contradiction rule the world. Policymakers and politicians consistently get what they don'...

Iceland: the quirky home of Bobby Fischer, Björk and the Blue Lagoon

2013-04-01 06:39:00

REYKJAVIK, Iceland - This is the only country that gives you a bath before they send you home. The Blue Lagoon, open year-round, rain or shine, envelops thousands of tourists from all over the world in its misty embrace. Many of them come in big...

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (L) is embraced by pianist Van Cliburn before the presentation of the Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

2013-02-27 10:15:37

Former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, and his famous head birthmark are 81 today.

2013-01-29 18:44:00

Granted, this is the man who oversaw the dissolution of the USSRbut it's still weird to see the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in an ad for one of the ultimate luxury brands.

2012-10-15 12:48:00