The rules are simple: Five minutes to ask someone, alive or dead, from one of the other two countries anything you want.
Would the real Vlad please stand up
For me this was an easy topic. I’ve always been interested in Vladimir. No, not that Vladimir. Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) will be judged quite harshly by his own people and history once he is removed from power. While he controls the press, he will remain popular.
- Why didn’t you move with more force against Stalin? You knew he was a convicted murderer.
- Do you still think Communism could work (there has never been a Phase 3, Communists nation)… No, Russia wasn’t Communist, it was a Socialist-Dictatorship.
- If you could re-live the Revolution, would you chart a new course?
mistakes were made and many were his. I doubt that the lesser Vladimir or Donald are made of such steel. In that regard, and in his idealism, you have to admire the man. Tilting at windmills is a lonely pursuit, even in the company of murderers.‘Almost made me sigh’
The biggest thing I like in Mick is that he doesn’t pretend to be someone else he isn’t. This is the quality I treasure a lot. He is Mick Jagger. He doesn’t go into politics. The problem of the Third World debts is also not on his agenda, at least, publicly. Though he’s got a reputation, he’s never been involved in #MeToo things. So far I’ve never heard of any woman accusing Mick of being sexually harassed by him. In theory, there could have been hundreds of cases. In fact, all these women probably think it was too cool to have an affair with Mick. Financially speaking, for them he is an asset not a liability. In his case we should invent the #TooCool campaign.
- Is there any point of your life you would like to come back to and live it again?
- You once said: ‘I’d rather be dead than singing ‘Satisfaction’ when I’m 45’. So what is your favorite song by the Stones, after all?
- Who was your best woman?
- What would be your next adventure in your afterlife?
- And, finally, back in the 60s, did you really have sex with Keith Richards???
Loved in All The Wrong Countries
My five minutes with anyone of either American or Russian nationality was always a foregone conclusion.
As someone who had interviewed thousands of movers and shakers during a 20-year career as a journalist, I had always wanted to have the opportunity to question someone who I held in the highest esteem – Mikhail Gorbachev.
Having been brought up during the Cold War, here was the first leader of the old USSR who made me feel safe. The first leader that didn’t look like he was already 90 years old and ready to flake out. The first leader that, instead of promoting hate and vitriol at western powers, actually did something practical to help make the world a bit of a better place.
And someone who, although I didn’t know him of course, seemed like a rather nice bloke.
So, stopwatch started, here are my questions……..and in case you are wondering how I can ask so many questions in just a 5-minute interview, his answers will be very quick and concise, and, my god, he talks so fast these days!!!!
- You worked on collective farms in your early years – how on earth did a farm-worker, from a poor working class family, end up studying law at Moscow State University?
- What inspired you into politics in the first place?
- As Russian leader, your policies of glasnost and perestroika effectively helped end the Cold War. For someone brought up on traditional communist ideology, what made you think that there had to be another way, and that you could achieve it?
- You are blamed, of course, for the breakup of the USSR. What regrets do you have about that?
- What do you make of the present leader, Putin? (He would have to be careful here – even he is not immune from prosecution if he strays too far from the party line)
- Finally, how do you think you will be remembered by your people? A true moderniser, who allowed people new horizons for themselves and their families, or someone who was hated by so many for losing the Soviet empire?
Gorby, thanks a lot mate.
I really feel sorry for this guy…whilst he has done much good even since his political days, I think, deep down, he is a very sad, possibly disillusioned man, not helped by losing his beloved wife Raisa some two decades ago.
As a Britain, all I can say to him is thank you for being a real human being whilst in power – yes, he had to do what he thought best for his country, but to my mind, he did it in a way that benefitted us all – after all, he did business with Reagan and Thatcher that made us all feel safer than we had ever done 
post-WW2.
It’s a real shame that his own country sees him, it seems, as only the villain………..
In general, I don’t think Russians see history the way Brits, and Yankees do. We tend to hold historical figures in high-regard. Sometimes too high. But not the Russians.
On my first visit to Moscow I was walking about, exploring my myself, and came upon the Lenin Memorial I put in my article. Should a George Washington statue receive the treatment Lenin’s does, I believe it would make the news. Certainly not a place to post your handyman available fliers.
Both of my co-authors have chosen truly gigantic figures of the Russian (and world) history to write about. Lenin was the one to move Russia out of the civilizational highway into some bumpy backroad. He changed the pace of the 20th century and not in a good way. Gorby changed the direction back to normality.
Dean, I think Lenin was himself a bloody murderer as he is personally responsible for the Civil war bloodshed and, as you correctly mentioned, for the Red Terror. He was a ruthless fanatic, just like Moslem extremists of today. But he was a Zeus of the Communist panteon in my chilldhood, ‘the most human man’.
As to Gorby, what he did is almost a saint’s job: he, against his will, destroyed the Evil empire. Just like Roger, I thank him for that. Not so many Russians do which is sad.
So unlike Lenin, his place in history is yet to be fixed and, hopefully, he’ll be remembered in future Russia’s history books as the first of two Great Liberators, together with Boris Yeltsin.
See, this is what I love about this Blog! When I read some article researching for this, I can never be quite sure what I’m reading is the truth. No, I’m not talking about that Fake News BS; I mean that the Cold War twisted history in such a way that we see things through a lens. So I read an article that says “I think Lenin was himself a bloody murderer” I would automatically think this is some left over Cold War rubbish. BUT if someone who grew up there says the same thing, I start to wonder, and if my friend Sergey says it, I believe him. Absolutely.
I love Sir Guy’s choice. But I think that music, and art in general, while so important in our immediate day-to-day lives, will be largely irrelevant in the future. MJ, or my idols, Elton John, Post Modern Jukebox, Oscar Peterson, JS Bach, Pavarotti, and the like, will have done nothing to shape our world for future generations, however long they remain in the public domain. Yes, they all give us a marvelous pastime, but they do nothing for putting the world to rights. At least Gorby tried something that might, just might, have made a big difference.