A surprising and timely poll in Russia placed the hardline Leonid Brezhnev as their most popular leader, and the reforming Mikhail Gorbachev – the man who from our western view point is often seen as a hero for his part in ending the Cold War – as the worst.
This is helpful to us as it reminds us of the perils of defining achievement and success in western terms. As Professor Valery Solovei told Kommersant daily “No one would want to live in Stalin’s era, but he personifies what now is in shortage: Justice and equality in fear”.
This is of course something that we have discussed when we asked who was the most successful of the Russian dictators.
Mr Kydd.
Interesting. Brezhnev had great eyebrows as well. Amazing stuff.
I find it strange how a view can differ so much in terms of Gorbachev. Really interesting.
Interesting contracts of the individuals.