Former Soviet dictator Mikhail Gorbachev celebrated his 80th birthday with a bash in London on Wednesday. And celebrities were out in force to glorify the life of a dictator. Tickets went as high as $160,000. Talk about surreal: the co-hosts were Sharon Stone and and Kevin Spacey. Entertainment was provided by the aging rock bank The Scorpions. Sporty Spice of the Spice Girls (now Mel C) also showed up.
It was all wrapped around the theme “Mikhail Gorbachev: The Man Who Changed the World.” The Moscow Times reports that Spacey and Stone were, err, “cheesy.” Standing in front of neo-classical columns “decorated with pink curtains,” the two co-hosts “continuously mangled various Russian names and concepts.” Stone (who they described as “ditzy”) went through a number of dress changes and Spacey tried to crack a joke about perestroika that was, well, “mangled.” In between The Scorpions sang their songs “Wind of Change” and later “Rock You Like A Hurricane.” Spandex anyone?
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Ted Turner was given an award. Then came a Russian pop group named Khor Turetskogo singing the old black spiritual, “Go Down Moses.” Strange choice if you are celebrating the birthday of an atheist, don’t you think? You can’t make this stuff up.
Famous Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky tried to remind London about who they were celebrating. He filed a lawsuit to have Gorbachev arrested for his crimes as Soviet leader. Bukovsky points out that among other things Gorbachev ordered the violent break-up of several demonstrations between 1989-1991 which led to the death of 100 people. But his request was rejected by a London Court on the grounds that Gorbachev was in the UK as part of a “Special Mission” on behalf of the Russian state. The fact is, of course, that he has absolutely no official position in the Russian government.
At a time when everyone is reporting on the alleged demise of the dictator in the Middle East how strange that they celebrate one from a different region and a previous era. Gorbachev was not elected, and he rejected democracy in favor of a “leading role” for the communist party. Events passed him up. He didn’t lead Russia to a democratic system. Just shows you that for the Left the Universal Law of Dictators is simple: dictators on the right bad; dictators on the left, throw them a party!
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