After years of rapprochement, the relationship between Russia and the West is more strained now than it has been in the past 25 years. Putin s motives, his reasons for seeking confrontation with the West, remain for many a mystery. Not for Mikhail Gorbachev.

Table of contentsTo my readersPreface: Perestroika and the futureTrying to bury meI After PerestroikaThe 1990s: Defending PerestroikaMy last day in the KremlinA new beginning, without presidential immunityShock therapyThe search for a scapegoat, threatsThe Gorbachev Foundation: its first reportsDecember 1991: politics and moralitySalvation in workAttempts to ‘destabilize’ meThe ‘Trial of the CPSU’First results of shock therapyA year after the coupMy stanceThe slide towards social catastropheOn the brink of crisisFateful decisions, fateful daysA state of emergency is not the way to stabilityDefects of the new Constitution1994 gets off to a bad startEconomists advise but the government is not listeningNikita Khrushchev: lessons in courage and lessons from mistakesThe Union could have been savedThe economy: what now?Meetings in the regionsChechnya: a war that could have been avoided1995: 10 years of PerestroikaThe intelligentsiaGovernment and societyThe need for an alternativeBreaking through the conspiracy of silenceLetters relating to the 1996 presidential election campaignDiscrediting electionsThe final years of the millenniumThe Gorbachev Foundation’s ‘First Five-Year Plan’The elections fail to bring stabilityThe storm breaks in 1998How to come out of the crisis?Letters of supportRaisa GorbachevaII Whither Russia?Putin: the beginningThe new president: hopes, problems, fearsWhat is Glasnost?The heavy burden of the presidencyMy social-democratic choiceRussia needs social democracyIssues and more issuesThe zero years of the 2000s?The Yukos affairA party of new bureaucratsA second presidential term: what for?A new direction, or more of the same?Full of contradictions: the first decade of the new millenniumNew electionsDemocracy in distressOperation SuccessorIdeas and peopleSaakashvili’s adventure and the West: my reactionOrdeal by global crisisDefending the credo of PerestroikaDisturbing trendsMy eightieth birthdayRussian politics in a quandaryA new Era of Stagnation?The presidential ‘reshuffle’ and the Duma electionsFor fair elections!Society awakensA decision to tighten the screwsSome letters of support in recent yearsThe need for dialogue between the government and societyIII Today’s uneasy worldThe relevance of New ThinkingChallenges of globalizationThe challenge of securityBan the bomb!Consequences of NATO expansionThe world after 9/11Poverty is a political problemResponding to the environmental challengeThe water crisisThe threat of climate changeWe need a new model of developmentMeetings in America: George Shultz and Ronald ReaganPartners should be equalThe role of the United States in the world‘America needs its own Perestroika’The election of ObamaThe future of EuropeGermanyOn a solid foundationMajor figures in European politicsLooking East: ChinaRussia and JapanA Simmering Region: Egypt and SyriaRussia and UkraineHistory Is Not FatedConclusionReflections of an optimistIndex

"Mikhail Gorbachev, with his prodigious intellect, vast experience, and powers of perception, gives us his views spanning from his time in office to the present day. As he says, 'Life teaches you more than any teacher,' and we all can learn by reading this account of his extraordinary life."—George P. Shultz, former Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury of the United States "Gorbachev was on the right side of history. One day the Russian people will recognize that they have as much reason to be grateful to him as do the rest of us. This important book explains why."—Sir Malcolm Rifkind, former Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary of the United Kingdom "Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev recounts his reaction to events over the past quarter century, from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the Russian Federation, to the revival of Cold-War-like confrontation with the West and the return of authoritarian governance in Russia itself. Gorbachev deplores the fact that Russia has deviated from the path to democracy that was the aim of his perestroika, but also points out that U.S. and Western policies have contributed to the current Cold War atmosphere. Gorbachev’s The New Russia is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand why the 'Europe Whole and Free' that Gorbachev and his Western partners tried to create still eludes us. His suggestions for a return to East-West cooperation and for a resumption of democratic reform in Russia itself are timely and much needed."—Jack F. Matlock, former United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia