The Message from Mikhail Gorbachev

Bering, Helle, The Washington Times (Washington, DC)

WALTHAM, Mass. - How are you supposed to look if you have lost an empire? Certainly, what one does not expect from the man who gave up the Soviet external empire and soon after lost its internal empire as well is the buoyancy and energy still unmistakably projected by Mikhail Gorbachev. It is true that more than six years have elapsed since Mr. Gorbachev's job description was summarily struck from the books by his nemesis, Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Mr. Gorbachev has had time to regroup, establishing his own foundation with branches abroad - where he is greatly, indeed infinitely, more appreciated than at home. But still.

Undoubtedly some of the spring in his step can be traced to the fact of Boris Yeltsin's precipitous decline. The two men are inextricably tied together in the story of the fall of the Soviet Union and its aftermath. Down goes one, up comes the other. Among the most significant days in the Russian crisis today, Mr. Gorbachev counts Oct. 11, …

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Publication information: Article title: The Message from Mikhail Gorbachev. Contributors: Bering, Helle - Author. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: October 27, 1998. Page number: 17. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 1998 Gale Group.

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