Oliver Stone in 2012: Gorbachev, Not Reagan, the ‘True Visionary’ and ‘Real Democrat’

June 12th, 2017 7:14 PM

Tonight (Monday), CBS-affiliated Showtime begins The Putin Interviews, a four-night series of interview excerpts with Russian President Vladimir Putin, conducted by far-left film maker Oliver Stone who, judging by a previous series on Showtime, has an affinity for KGB-connected strongmen.

Back in 2012, during a segment on Showtime’s Untold History of the United States, Stone asserted the “lion’s share of credit” for ending the Cold War goes not to former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, but to former Soviet dictator Mikhail Gorbachev.

Stone hailed the communist as “a true visionary” and “the real democrat.”

From the episode of Showtime’s Untold History of the United States, “Reagan, Gorbachev & Third World: Revival of Fortune,” as first aired Monday night, December 31, 2012:

As far as Reagan’s much-vaunted role in winning the Cold War, the lion’s share of credit goes to Mikhail Gorbachev -- a true visionary and, it turns out, the real democrat. If Reagan had entered into the sincere partnership offered by Gorbachev, as Roosevelt did with Stalin in World War II, the world would have been transformed. But Ronald Reagan, at the least, let the chance to rid the world of nuclear weapons slip through his fingers, because he wouldn’t let go of a space fantasy.

“Appreciating Gorbachev’s extraordinary effort, a leading Soviet expert on the U.S. warned his American counterparts: ‘We will do the most horrible thing to you. We will leave you without an enemy.’”