What Gorbachev and his entourage did with the USSR, Soviet foreign and domestic policy, national security and the national economy, culture and people cannot be called anything other than high treason.
Perestroika
In 1987, when the program of “remaking” the Soviet state entered its decisive phase, Mikhail Gorbachev defined this program:
“Perestroika is a polysemous, extremely capacious word. But if from its many possible synonyms we choose the key one that most closely expresses its very essence, then we can say this: perestroika is a revolution."
In essence, "perestroika" was a creeping counter-revolution. The elimination of Soviet civilization and the state, the victory of the "white" liberal-bourgeois pro-Western project in Russia-USSR. A "revolution from above" took place, when, in the conditions of a maturing systemic crisis, a crisis of the legitimacy of power that occurred after the liquidation of the Stalinist project (the party's departure from real power, the preservation of only ideological power, its transfer to the people's councils of all levels), which threatened with the loss and redistribution of power and wealth, it was decided to "rebuild" the USSR. In fact, the Gorbachev elite organized "self-overthrow" through the complete ideological, informational, political, social, national and economic destabilization of the country.
At the same time, "perestroika-counterrevolution" in Russia-USSR had global ideological, informational, cultural, political, socio-economic and national consequences. There has been a fundamental change in the geopolitical structure of the world. It was a global geopolitical catastrophe. She gave rise to world processes that have not yet been completed. The world from bipolar first became unipolar with total domination of the American empire. Then the system was finally destabilized. The United States did not play the role of "world gendarme". Now there is a fragmentation of the world into new empire-powers - "game of thrones". Rollback, but with new technologies. In turn, the elimination of the socialist camp led to the complete victory of capitalism and consumer society on the planet, which became the basis of the world systemic crisis and catastrophe. A new stabilization is possible only through several tough waves of crisis (like a "virus"), a series of catastrophes and wars. The current wars in Syria, Libya, Yemen, the creation of a new Turkish empire, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the collapse and extinction of Ukraine and Georgia, etc. - all these are long-term consequences of the "restructuring" of the USSR. As a result, the winners will lead a new Crimea-Potsdam and create a new world order.
Also, "perestroika" was part of the world confrontation - the "cold war". In fact, the third world war. Conceptual-ideological, informational, political-diplomatic wars, wars of special services and economic formations. "Hot" confrontation in third world countries. Foreign political forces and organizations played an active and important role in the collapse of the USSR. The completion of "perestroika" led to the liquidation of the Warsaw Pact and the CMEA, the withdrawal of Russian troops from Eastern Europe, Afghanistan, and the dissolution of the USSR. What is seen in the West as Russia's defeat in the world war. With all the tragic consequences: the collapse of Great Russia-USSR, territorial and demographic losses, indemnity (withdrawal of capital and strategic resources), etc.
The driving force behind "perestroika" was the union of various social and ethnocultural groups: part of the degenerated Soviet party, state and economic nomenklatura, which wanted to overcome the imminent crisis of legitimacy through the division of property and wealth while preserving its position in the new "democratic" Russia, on its ruins; liberal pro-Western intelligentsia, who demanded "freedom" and "democracy"; ethnocracy and regional elites; "Shadow people", criminal layers.
As a result, all active participants in "perestroika" got what they wanted. The nomenklatura and the "shadow" got power and divided the property; ethnocracy - their principalities and khanates (power and property); intelligentsia - complete freedom of self-expression (which immediately led to the degradation of culture and art), freedom to travel abroad, "full shelves" (consumer society). The people have lost everything, however, this realization will come much later, when the synthesis of peripheral, semi-colonial capitalism, caste neo-feudalism will crush the main achievements of developed socialism (general external and internal security, a high level of education and science, health care, morality and culture, technological and economic self-sufficiency). It will take more than 20 years to eliminate the achievements of socialism (created with a multiple reserve). At first, however, the silent majority will be blinded by the "full counters" of sausage, gum and jeans. Only a few will immediately realize that this apparent "prosperity" will be paid for by millions of lives and the future of entire generations.
A revolution in consciousness
To implement the counter-revolution, it was necessary to "exclude" from the process, to neutralize most of the people. The first part of "perestroika" was carried out by Khrushchev: de-Stalinization, refusal to radically change the role of the party in society, equalization, a number of "mines" in foreign, economic and national policy. Khrushchev undermined the progressive development of Soviet civilization ("Betrayal of the USSR. Perestroika Khrushchev"; "Khrushchev" as the first perestroika "). The USSR, by inertia, went into the future for some time. However, “stagnation” soon began with the creation of the Soviet consumer society, when development was exchanged for consumer abundance and an “oil needle” was created (a consumer model of the economy, which reached its peak in the Russian Federation).
Under Gorbachev, the time has come to complete the process of transforming Soviet civilization into a handful of "independent" banana-oil republics. But this required a revolution in consciousness, so that the remaining front-line soldiers and the working class would not raise the future “new Russians” and “nobles” to the pitchfork. This period was called "glasnost". It was a big program to destroy images, symbols and ideas, “spiritual bonds” that united Soviet civilization and society. The publicity was carried out with the full power of the state media with the participation of reputable scientists, artists and public figures. That is, everything happened with the permission and with the full support of the higher authorities. There were no independent media in the USSR.
The success of glasnost was ensured by the preliminary processing of the population (de-Stalinization, the GULAG, Solzhenitsyn, etc.) and the complete blockade of the conservative, patriotic part of the intelligentsia. All attempts to appeal to common sense and truth were blocked. There was no public dialogue. The "reactionary majority" was simply not given the floor. An important role was played by discrediting and denigrating the historical past of the USSR and Russia (the same programs are still in operation). From Stalin, Zhukov and Matrosov to Kutuzov, Zhukov, Ivan the Terrible and Alexander Nevsky. The blows were dealt to the historical consciousness, the Russians were turned into "Ivanov who do not remember their kinship."
Various natural and man-made disasters and accidents were actively used in the information war. Chernobyl, motor ship "Admiral Nakhimov", Spitak. Various incidents and conflicts: the flight to Moscow of Rust's plane, the massacre in Tbilisi and Vilnius. A large role was played by the so-called. ecological (green) movement. Environmental activists, with the help of the media, sometimes brought the public to hysteria and psychosis. For example, the so-called. nitrate boom with the creation of invented fears of "poisoned" vegetables. They closed the enterprises under construction necessary for the country and the people, for which they had already spent a lot of resources and funds. People were intimidated by new Chernobyls. In the republics, environmental problems were given a national color (Ignalina NPP in Lithuania and Armenian NPP). It is worth noting that these methods are valid up to the present time. They took the form of "green madness".
Another type of ideological and information warfare was public opinion polls. It was artificially formed. They created the image of an "evil empire", a "prison of peoples", a "scoop", a country that produces nothing but tanks, "Russia we have lost", "white noble knights and red commissars-ghouls", etc. and etc. The pressure on public consciousness was very effective. In particular, in 1989, an all-union opinion poll was conducted on the level of nutrition. Milk and dairy products were consumed on average in the Union 358 kg per person per year (in the USA - 263). But when surveyed, 44% answered that they do not consume enough. So, in the Armenian SSR 62% of the population were dissatisfied with their level of milk consumption (in 1989 - 480 kg). For example, in "developed" Spain - 140 kg. As a result, public opinion was created by "talking heads" and the media.
The ideology of "perestroika" was based on Eurocentrism - the theory of the existence of a single world civilization on the basis of European (Western). Only this path was “correct”. Russia, in the opinion of Westernizers and liberals, has deviated from this path. Especially under Stalin and during the period of Brezhnev's "stagnation". Therefore, Russia must be "returned to civilization", to the "world community." Russians should live guided by "universal human values", although they came into conflict with common sense, historical and cultural development. Values as a product of culture and history cannot be universal (only instincts are common to people). The main obstacle on the way to this was the Soviet state, the way out was seen in "denationalization".
Thus, during the period of glasnost, "perestroika" vilified almost everything. All institutions of the state. History and culture. The army and the management system. School and health care system. All braces and bases.
