Opinion | Gorbachev respectfully buried in Moscow mourned by peace-lovers but fell short of a full state funeral
By Augustus K. Yeung
INTRODUCTION
Russians who came for a last look at former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Saturday mourned both the man and his policies that gave them hope. Carrying a bouquet of flowers, President Vladimir Putin went to the hospital where the former leader was first pronounced dead.
The Russian president stepped up to Gorbachev resting in his casket, took a good and quiet look at the man of controversy. Gorbachev made a difference to Russia's past and future; and Putin was in a pensive mood.
(He is one of those who have a lot of mixed feelings on his mind.)
Gorbachev, who died Tuesday at age 91, launched drastic reforms that helped end the Cold War. But he also precipitated the breakup of the Soviet Union, which Putin had called the 20th century's "greatest geopolitical catastrophe."
The quiet farewell viewing of his body in an ostentatious hall near the Kremlin was shadowed by the awareness that the openness Gorbachev championed has been met with an ever-expanding NATO, at the expense of Russia's national security, leaving security-conscious Russians tossing in bed without a good night's sleep, but simple folks full of thanks.
VARIOUS VOICES FROM THE RUSSIAN MOURNERS
"In want to thank him for my childhood of freedom…" said mourner Ilya, a financial services worker in his early 30s who declined to give his last name.
"I am a son of perestroika," he said, using the Russian word for Gorbachev's reform, or reconstruction, initiatives.
"I'd like us to have more people like him in our history," said another mourner. "We need such politicians to settle the situation in the world when it's on the verge of World War III."
After the viewing, Gorbachev's body was buried next to his wife Raisa in the national cemetery, where many prominent Russians lie, including post-Soviet country's first president, Boris Yeltsin, whose struggle for power with Gorbachev sped up the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The procession that carried the coffin into the cemetery was led by Novel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov, editor of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, Russia's last major Kremlin-critical news outlet before it suspended operations in March. Gorbachev used funds from his own Nobel prize to help start the paper.
KREMLIN SHOWED RESPECT BUT FELL SHORT OF A FULL STATE FUNERAL
The Kremlin refusal to formally declare a state funeral reflected its uneasiness about the legacy of Gorbachev, who has been venerated worldwide for bringing down "the Iron Curtain" (a work of art from none other than cheeky Winston Churchill who mocked communism) but reviled by many at home for the Soviet collapse and the ensuing economic meltdown that plunged millions of Russians into poverty and loss of national pride.
On Thursday, Putin privately laid flowers at Gorbachev's coffin at a Moscow hospital where he died. The Kremlin said the president's busy schedule would prevent him from attending the funeral…
Gorbachev's body was displayed for public viewing at the Pillar Hall of the House of the Unions, an opulent 18th-century mansion near the Kremlin that has served as the venue for state funerals since Soviet times.
Mourners passed by Gorbachev's open casket flanked by honorary guards, laying flowers as solemn music played. Gorbachev's daughter, Irina, and his two granddaughters sat beside the coffin.
The grand, chandeliered hall lined by columns hosted balls for the nobility under the czars and served as a venue for high-level meetings and congresses along with state funerals during Soviet times. Upon entering the building, mourners saw honor guards flanking a large photo of Gorbachev standing with a broad smile, a reminder of the cheerful vigor he brought to the Soviet leadership after a series of dour, ailing predecessors.
The turnout was large enough that the viewing was extended for two more hours beyond the stated two hours. (MDT/AP)
CONCLUSION
The passing of Mr. Gorbachev was a controversial monumental event: The former Soviet leader had made a state visit to China in 1989, bringing with him a headwind that had almost brought the collapse of modern China after the domino effect of the Soviet bloc.
It was a time when the good-natured Gorbachev metaphorically sandwiched between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Regan, who together cast a spell and got the better of him, eventually leading to the collapse of Soviet Union, East Germany and Poland.
Luckily, China's leaders – with their independent thinking – were neither sentimentally attached to Mr. Gorbachev nor fooled by the two Western leaders – whose conspiracy aimed to bring down the world movement of communism, not just to end the Cold War.
More precisely, it was the communist party of China that had steadfastly saved the nation from the imminent collapse as events unfolded in Eastern Europe. What a great escape!
While the Western world rejoiced over its triumph over the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the Chinese people are unhappy about an ever-expanding NATO at the expense of Russia (whose sincerity and generosity have been taken for granted), and now attempting to expand NATO to the Asia-Pacific region.
The Western leaders could have disbanded NATO (a war machine); it has had served its time with the collapse of the former Soviet Union, presumably the West's legitimate source of anxiety.
Instead, NATO extended its aggressive tentacles, reaching into Ukraine – Russia's "next of kin", threatening the coexistence of a Slavic civilization as the former Soviet Union constituents joined the American-led opposing bloc one by one.
Ukraine could have wisely joined the European Union (EU); and reaped economic success. Unfortunately, it has made the wrong move by joining NATO, which keeps encroaching at Russia's expense. And now it is China, a peace-loving rising nation in the East whose ambition is world peace and prosperity for all nations, a philosophy crystallized as a result of the five-hundred-year wars, the Spring Autumn Warring States.
Putin's ambivalence that shows in Gorbachev's funeral can be humanly understood.
The author is a freelance writer; formerly Adjunct Lecturer, taught MBA Philosophy of Management, and International Strategy, and online columnist of 3-D Corner (HKU SPACE), University of Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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