I came across this article accidentally. The writer is right. Gorbachev in the early days was a rock star in the USSR and worldwide, representing in his person and words the hope of a democratic socialism and an end to the Cold War. He was a breath of fresh air! While communists here ( and I was one) defended the Soviet Union to a fault during the Cold War, most of us enthusiastically welcomed “Gorby” and his vision of a renovated socialism. Things didn’t work out as he and many of us hoped, but his vision of a democratic and modern socialism and a world at peace still endures around the world and acquires new necessity in present circumstances.