The writer Richard Rhodes has authored several books about the creation use and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. In "Arsenals of Folly" he goes into the background of Gorbachev sympathetically enough to bring an understanding of Mikhail's idealism and disillusionment with the Communist 'faith' of his youth and the meeting of minds he enabled between the Soviet Union and the West.

I don't think we can blame Gorbachev for the failure of Russia to 'launch democratic'. The same thing happened in 1917. Russia has a popular tradition of border warfare, absolutist rulers, and a certain casual approach to sanity on the part of her leaders.