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The US Needs Its Own Perestroika: Gorbachev

Global financial crisis calls for economic restructuring

By Amelia Atlas, Newser User

Posted Jun 7, 2009 9:13 AM CDT

(Newser) – Mikhail Gorbachev has been saying for years that the US needed change, and for the first time, he writes in the Washington Post, people have been meeting him with applause rather than skepticism. America needs a perestroika—a restructuring—because, like Russia in the 1980s, it can no longer revert to its past. The economic crisis reveals the free market dogma "force-fed to the rest of the world" to be an "illusion."

When the Soviet Union transitioned to the free market, the US hailed it as an ideological victory. But the global crisis shows that the US missed calls for change of its own, and now, Gorbachev argues, "The current model does not need adjusting; it needs replacing." The US was not only the "architect" of the world economic model, but its "main beneficiary," and so it falls to America to lead a global perestroika.

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (4)]

President of the World Political Forum, Mikhail Gorbachev of Russia, speaks during a conference entitled "Peace With Water" at the European Parliament in Brussels, Thursday Feb. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, is presented with the 2008 Liberty Medal by former President George H.W. Bush, during a ceremony, Sept. 18, 2008, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

Former President of Russia Mikhail Gorbachev talks at the conference "Challenge Future" in Bochum, Germany, Saturday, June 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

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But if all the proposed solutions and action now come down to a mere rebranding of the old system, we are bound to see another, perhaps even greater upheaval down the road. - Mikhail Gorbachev

The time has come for 'creative construction,' for striking the right balance between the government and the market, for integrating social and environmental factors and demilitarizing the economy. - Mikhail Gorbachev

We will cope with the new global challenges as well, but only if everyone understands the need for real, cardinal change—for a global perestroika. - Mikhail Gorbachev

The current global crisis demonstrates that the leaders of major powers, particularly the United States, had missed the signals that called for a perestroika. - Mikhail Gorbachev

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 11 comments

northeast

Jun 8, 2009 4:36 AM CDT

Good idea, Gorby! I'll start stockpiling blue jeans and ammunition so if we actually listen to you, I'll have some leverage in the anarchy which will immediately follow. Great to hear that you learned something from the early 90's.

kokuaguy

Jun 8, 2009 1:35 AM CDT

It's nice to have you back in full battle mode here on my favorite entertainment website, C_k. I've missed the comic relief !!!

kokuaguy

Jun 8, 2009 1:29 AM CDT

You know nothings deserve all the thumbs down and derision you get here. Gorbachev won the Nobel Prize for peacefully ending the Soviet tyranny and doing away with the gulags. The masses of uneducated in Russia have put Putin on a pedestal for presiding over a time of economic prosperity, but with the crash of oil prices the pendulum will start to swing back in the direction of more balance and realism.

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The US Needs Its Own Perestroika: Gorbachev