Gorbachev calls for Russian election rerun

[Matilda]

Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev called for Russia's elections to be re-run as the opposition vowed to stage new rallies contesting the results.

Police threw a huge security cordon around a central Moscow square to prevent any new rallies, as the opposition called for a mass gathering near the Kremlin on Saturday.

A handful of arrests were reported in Moscow on Wednesday as police cordoned off central squares, while about 70 people were detained in a third night of rallies in Russia's second city of Saint Petersburg.

The wave of protests and a loss of support in the parliamentary elections have provided Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin with an unexpected challenge as he prepares to return to the Kremlin in 2012 presidential polls.



Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-08/gorbachev-calls-for-russian-re-vote/3719102

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Good for Gorby - they made a big mistake when they got rid of him for the clown Yeltsin.

And Putin really is creepy - too many "accidents" happen to people who question him. He really is old school Soviet at heart.

[teddy51]

1. Hey, can't blame Putty (Major KGB career) for wanting to set Russia back to the

Soviet Union days.

[Bosonic]

2. Gorbachev calls for new elections in Russia

Source: AFP

MOSCOW: The Soviet Union's last leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Wednesday said Russia should annul the results of the weekend's disputed legislative elections won by Vladimir Putin's ruling party and call new polls.

"The country's leaders have to admit that there were numerous falsifications and rigging and the results do not reflect the will of the people," he told the Interfax news agency. "Therefore I think they can only take one decision -- annul the results of the election and hold new ones."

Read more: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1170001/1/.html

[newfie11]

3. This seems to be a world wide problem n/t

[mwooldri]

4. Sadly Gorby's voice carries more weight outside Russia.

The youth in Russia are now taught that the Russian Revolution happened in 1991, not in 1917, which seems to be known more now as the October Revolution. Gorbachev of course was the last head of state... so his opinion on the matter would be seen as a joke in Russia.

Seems like there will be many more Vladurday's in our calendar.

Mark.

[russian33]

5. Gorby and his weight

the reason his voice carries more weight outside, is he's disliked inside...because as "head of state" he managed to dismantle a country at the cost of it's citizens, just to please the west...when my family and I and other Armenians started to get slaughtered, and persecuted in Azerbaijan, Gorby kept that news quiet, and did nothing...for a week, January 13 thru 20, there were pogroms in Baku, and he did nothing (and obviously didn't publicize that info). until finally on January 20 he allowed the army to enter Baku, and then thy just started shooting people...similar situations were in the Asian republics, in Baltic republics...Gorby did everything he could to please the West, and the people paid the price....he was/is a worthless, useless, and what's worse, ruthless "head of state"

[Agent William]

6. Were things better in the Soviet Union?

I've long since suspected that. It appears that after 1991, things got markedly worse. Unemployment, inflation, AIDS, no utilities and death of national prestige all seem to be rampant in post USSR Russia. Now, personal freedoms seem to be more limited than they were in the late 1980s.

So was it worth it? Eastern Europe is better off as are the Baltic states, but the core Soviet republics are hurting.

I'm sure life is better off for a slim percentage of the population, but when one looks at this through the prism of utilitarianism, I can see no benefit of the dissolution of the USSR. Was the price paid by the average person really worth appeasing the west?

[mwooldri]

7. Thank you for this. I learned lots from your one paragraph.

Being a teenager at that time, I only saw the outside Gorbachev, oh and the outside Reagan too.

Some reading is in order for me - to learn the true history of the fall of the USSR. I remember a fair bit of fighting broke out in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and that got press attention in the UK... but fighting in other than Soviet Republics didn't get as much press attention and coverage.

Thank you.

[Myrina]

8. Wow, I didn't even realize he was still alive!

:hide: I thought this was something from the Onion at first!!

[Fool Count]

9. Russian people call for re-vote on that 1985 Politburo meeting

that brought Gorbachev to power. Some of the more elderly members may have been asleep or
didn't understand clearly what was at stake when they raised their hands.