Gorbachev legacy harks back to a very different Russia

The sad passing of Mikhail Gorbachev (“Mikhail Gorbachev: last Soviet president and reformist leader, dies aged 91”, 31/8), means one of history’s great leaders has fallen. Although a product of the communist system, once he had the levers of power Gorbachev set about implementing his two great changes to Soviet society in glasnost and perestroika – openness and reform. After so many ageing communist leaders, a relatively young, dynamic humanitarian emerged determined to change his country for the better. Thousands of prisoners of conscience were released and freedom of speech and religion introduced. Along with US president Ronald Reagan and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Gorbachev is responsible for the freedom of millions in Eastern Europe and the lessening of the threat of nuclear war. May he rest in peace.

Peter Curtis, Werribee South, Vic

Coming only days after Ukraine commemorated the 31st anniversary of gaining independence from the former Soviet Union, the death of Mikhail Gorbachev points to why Western media, such as Time magazine, widely credited him as “the man who saved the world”. The alcohol-fuelled presidency of Gorbachev’s successor Boris Yeltsin, together with the Soviet Union’s humiliating collapse, created for President Vladimir Putin the perfect vacuum to restore Russia’s pride as a military and economic power. His war in Ukraine is an extension of his determination to undo Gorbachev’s legacy, which he bemoans as the greatest political catastrophe of the 20th century. But Gorbachev’s vision of a reconciliation between Russia’s past with Western liberal democracy must never be forgotten. It is the ultimate means by which the war in Ukraine can be resolved.

Vincent Zankin, Rivett, ACT

So the man with the strawberry birthmark is gone. A realist, a patriot and brave man who gave us the words perestroika and glasnost as he tried to drag his hermit country into the last years of the 20th century. The man of whom Thatcher said “I can do business with this man” and who, after Reagan’s plea to “tear down this wall”, did just that two years later in 1989. Assuming heaven is a “one size fits all” operation, I can see the three of them, sharing a coffee and looking unsuccessfully for non-existent signs of their collective legacy. Vale Mikhail Gorbachev. At least you tried.

John McHarg, Maylands, WA

Energy system reset

Sorry, Cathy Foley (“Critical minerals offer us a new kind of mining boom”, 28/8), all chance of critical mineral processing in Australia flew out the window when our energy systems were privatised and unreliable power subsidised. It is now not possible to write any viable long-term contracts for the electricity or gas needed to underpin mineral value adding financial investment or any other business requiring competitive energy supply. Given AEMO’s headline predictions of impending blackouts, we will be lucky to keep the lights on in our hospitals and nursing homes, let alone process minerals. So we will continue to dig it up, ship it out and pay for the imported end products until enlightened reality returns to our energy sector.

Barrie Hill, Lane Cove, NSW

When I began engineering with the State Electricity Commission of Victoria in 1959, we were pressured to promote by any means possible the sale of electricity, as surplus generation existed. The low energy costs enabled the easy promotion of supply to remote regions and farmers, heavy and light industry, which in turn produced cars, aircraft and a flow domestic whitegoods that were locally made in those times and within reach of all. Look at us now. Progress?

Rex Womersley, Edge Hill, Qld

It was refreshing to read (“Go small, go nuke”, 30/8) the status of the NuScale small modular reactor in Oregon, construction of which is well advanced. It looks like taking three years to build. It is a 924MW factory-made aggregation of SMRs and while of lesser output than the Liddell coal-fired power station would comfortably fit on this site and interconnect with the existing transmission system. I hope Energy Minister Chris Bowen and Bob Carr are taking note.

Sandy Longworth, Mosman, NSW

Productivity a priority

As discussed by Paul Kelly (“Delivering real outcomes the test”, 31/8), lifting feeble productivity is a priority. It would be easy to blame lazy workers and/or slack management, and these no doubt exist. But what if in our economy, there is simply too much workforce effort directed at non-wealth-producing activities?

William Mapleston, Ashgrove, Qld

Robert Gottliebsen is correct (“Job summit a step back to Australia’s dark past”, 31/8). This week’s job summit has all the hallmarks for setting in train parameters that will sideline employers and hand significant power back to unions. Sadly it seems big business will be complicit because it is indicating agreement with unions on industry-wide agreements. This suits big business because it is usually the target of industrial action; it’s where the biggest bang for the buck lies. Of course this presents opportunities for small and medium enterprises to pick up the slack and improve profits at big business’s expense. In industry-wide agreements everyone goes down with the ship. This summit will return us to the dark ages and hand power back to unions.

John George, Terrigal, NSW