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After 1985, the last Soviet premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize political life and the economy through new policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). These policies caused political instability arising from nationalist and separatist movements. In 1989, Soviet-allied states in Eastern Europe were overthrown in a wave of revolutions which ended communist rule.
As part of an attempt to prevent the country’s collapse, a referendum was held in March 1991, boycotted by three republics, that resulted in a majority favoring the preservation of the union as a renewed federation. Gorbachev’s power was greatly diminished after Russian President Boris Yeltsin‘s high-profile role in facing down a coup d’état by party hardliners. In late 1991, Gorbachev resigned, and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union met and formally dissolved the union. The remaining 12 constituent republics emerged as independent post-Soviet states.
The only thing more gobsmacking than the brazenly open who-gives-a-fuck incompetence of it all is how well it’s going to already have been working.
And just to prove I’m not some Russian trollfarm bot, here’s a photo of me doing my bit to thwart the Soviets’ years-long 1988 plan to exploit Sanders’ antiwar agenda by helping to TEAR DOWN THIS WALL in December of 1989:
In conclusion, fuck the Times.
