Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev; born 2 March 1931) is a former Soviet statesman. He was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991 when the party was dissolved. He served as the country's head of state from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991. He was the only General Secretary in the history of the Soviet Union to have been born after the October...
ProfessionWorld Leader
Date of Birth2 March 1931
CityPrivolnoye, Russia
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You cannot put Russia down on its knees and hold it there because Russia will ultimately pull out.
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The pope did everything possible to help humanity out of its era of hate.
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It is a worthy reward for his efforts over many years. He is a man who does his job solidly and responsibly.
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While adhering to his convictions, with which one could agree or disagree, he was not dogmatic; he was looking for negotiations and cooperation. And this was the most important thing to me; he had the trust of the American people.
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Every country should conduct its own reforms, should develop its own model, taking into account the experience of other countries, whether close neighbours or far away countries.
What about Jesus Christ? I say that he was a precursor of idealists; a precursor of socialists.
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I think we need more young people; we need to elect young people to government. We need to give them a chance, in the media, in politics, in democracy.
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If current technological processes continue without change, the environment will change, and we, the human species, will either have to mutate or even die, to disappear, as many species have disappeared.
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I don't think Russia is setting this as a goal; I don't think this should be Russia's goal. I think even the United States doesn't need to be a superpower. China doesn't need to be a superpower. It's a different world.
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I couldn't wait to get to the most powerful position, because I thought then I would be able to fix problems that only the leader can fix. But when I got there, I realized we needed revolutionary change.
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I think God has some mechanism that he uses to punish those that make mistakes.
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Ex-Presidents of the United States get state subsidies. Not so in Russia. You get no government support.
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I grew up in a family of peasants, and it was there that I saw the way that, for example, our wheat fields suffered as a result of dust storms, water erosion and wind erosion; I saw the effect of that on life - on human life.
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The Berlin Wall was a mark of contradictions in the world, and it became a mark of radical changes in the world which touched the majority of humankind, ... But the way towards abolishing it was long and painful.