Gorbachev - A Political Obituary

In light of the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR,  I attempt to evaluate the life and legacy of the man and ask whether  things could have been any different.  



I argue that Gorbachev  was more of a fool than anything else, a product of a bureaucracy that  had become an active enemy of socialism and who triggered a collapse by  pursuing policies he didn't fully understand.  He's still a wretched  traitor though.