Empty Slogans

On June 18, 1979, at the height of the Cold War, the SALT II treaty was signed in Vienna between the United States and the Soviet Union. Among other provisions, it stipulated that the number of launch-capable vehicles would be reduced from 2,400 to 2,150 by 1981, and imposed restrictions on multiple-warhead missiles. The power of the two superpowers was beyond imagination, but what distinguished the United States at that stage was that its resurgence encompassed all aspects of life. On the other hand, referring to the Soviet Union, the focus was on conventional and unconventional armament, while the citizen was hungry, exhausted, and devoid of any freedom to express themselves or bring about change.

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev, the last general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, came to power. He was one of the most significant figures of the last two centuries. Gorbachev realized that providing a decent life for Soviet citizens was more important than intercontinental ballistic missiles, and that building a university in Moscow or a hospital in Stalingrad was more crucial than invading Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia, in 1968 to oust Dubček. Gorbachev hastened to initiate a series of reforms, but the legacy was heavy. Moreover, the existence of twelve republics attached to the Russian Federation, which constituted the political map of the Soviet Union, posed the greatest challenge. Consequently, he decided to dismantle them and the socialist system that the Eastern Bloc was following at the time.

In 1991, he was the last president of the Soviet Union, and Boris Yeltsin became president of the Russian Federation. The other republics gained independence, and the Warsaw Pact dissolved into the configuration we see today. Indeed, some countries disintegrated in a model fashion and without any bloodshed, while others, such as former Yugoslavia, witnessed massacres and disasters.

How much we need a new Gorbachev who dares to ask himself difficult questions! What is the use of missiles, drones, tanks, warplanes, and starving, oppressed peoples whose sons stand in queues outside European or Gulf embassies to obtain entry visas, because they have no job opportunities and see no light at the end of the tunnel? Some talk about dignity, liberation from dependence on the West, and fighting global Zionism, but in the process, they have forgotten or ignored that these slogans have led to domestic disasters.

Mikhail Gorbachev passed away on August 30, 2022. Had he been among us, I would have asked him: Is dignity found in missiles, drones, and senseless wars, or in wise governance that develops the country and creates job opportunities? Has the message been received? I hope so!