Mikhail Gorbachev dies at 91
Mikhail Gorbachev, a reformist leader who oversaw the end of the Soviet Union, has died at 91.
His rise to power set in motion a series of revolutionary changes that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Few leaders in the 20th century, indeed in any century, have had such a profound effect on their time.
Abroad, he was hailed as a hero. At home, he promised and delivered greater openness — glasnost — as he implemented his policy of perestroika to restructure his country’s society and faltering economy. And although it was not his intention to liquidate the Soviet empire, he presided over an extraordinary five months in 1989 when the Communist system imploded from the Baltics to the Balkans.
Vladimir Putin: The Russian president has called the collapse of the Soviet Union the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” Putin sees the war with Ukraine as part of his battle to undo Gorbachev’s legacy.
Reaction: Gorbachev lived long enough to see the East-West divide revived during the war in Ukraine. He is being lionized by the West, but is reviled by some in Russia.
U.N. inspectors stalled in Ukraine
U.N. nuclear experts arrived in Kyiv yesterday with plans to inspect the imperiled nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia “within days.”
Their path to get to the facility in southern Ukraine is still unresolved. A senior Ukrainian adviser said that Russian forces had fired on possible routes to the facility. The shelling seemed intentional, he said, but he expressed hope that the 14 inspectors would reach the plant “one way or another.”
Witnesses and Iraqi security officials confirmed that shooting had stopped after his call. But the turmoil has raised fears that Iraq is caught in a perilous cycle with no functioning government — and no common ground to make one.
Notably, the tensions flared between different Shiite political factions, highlighting long-building friction at the heart of Iraqi politics. Sadr leads one faction, which is mistrustful of Iran and espouses Iraqi nationalism.
Other groups are backed by Iran, and some of them are Shiite militias that answer more to Iran’s Shiite theocracy than to Iraq’s government.
Context: Iraq is a majority Shiite country, but Shiites faced years of harsh repression under Saddam Hussein. They came to political power after the 2003 U.S. invasion.
Details: Sadr’s followers took to the streets of the capital after he announced on Monday that he planned to retire from politics. They fought with security forces, which include members of the Iranian-backed militias that Sadr opposes.
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A Canadian news network abruptly dismissed a veteran journalist, Lisa LaFlamme. She said the company that owns CTV made “a ‘business decision’ to end my contract.”
Her dismissal has opened a debate over sexism and ageism in the workplace: LaFlamme, 58, had recently stopped dyeing her hair and had decided to let it go gray.
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ARTS AND IDEAS
Ukrainian dance responds to war
Alexei Ratmansky, one of the greatest living choreographers, spent his childhood in Ukraine. Since Russia invaded in February, he has thrown himself into supporting Ukraine and its dancers, creating a home for them in the Netherlands.
Before the Russian invasion, Ratmansky had not seen himself as a political artist. But he immediately left his post in Moscow working at the Bolshoi Ballet, and he said he was unlikely to return while Vladimir Putin remained president.
Now, he is helping build the United Ukrainian Ballet Company, a company of Ukrainian ballet dancers who have fled the war, in a repurposed conservatory in The Hague.
The company will perform in London with “Giselle,” a classic French ballet. “We picked it because it is something that they know, and that requires a large number of dancers,” Ratmansky said, “but also because it is not Russian.”
Read more about the choreographer’s reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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