The whole world has much to thank Mikhail Gorbachev for. As many have pointed out since his death in Moscow earlier this week, Gorbachev – the last leader of the Soviet Union – did more than anyone to bring the Cold War to an end peacefully, reducing the threat that nuclear weapons might be used.
DAVID M. KOTZ, dmkotz@comcast.net Professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst , Kotz is the coauthor, with Fred Weir, of Russia’s Path from Gorbachev to Putin .