Even the most expert analysis is biased towards the rational extrapolation of known parameters. Gorbachev surprised the experts, and probably himself into the bargain: Both the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the peaceful way it came about remained at the outer edge of speculation for most of his time in the Kremlin. There is even today no commonly accepted account of why it happened, whether in Russia and other former Soviet states, or in the wider world.It is a widely held assumption that, when Putin goes, he will be replaced by an analogous figure, and that his system will …read more
Source: The American Interest
