Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has frequently been quoted as saying that the breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical disaster of the twentieth century. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last President of the USSR, who passed away in Moscow on Tuesday, at the age of 91, was often reviled in Russia as the principal architect of that “geopolitical disaster”. But he was also admired by many elsewhere, particularly in the former Soviet republics that gained independence, and in the countries that could break free from the claustrophobic embrace of the Warsaw Pact.

United States’ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan can be regarded as one of the most surprising events in the international politics. The last visit by a United States speaker to Taiwan was 25 years ago. The major reason given by her for the visit was that Beijing cannot be allowed to “threaten Taiwan – and democracy itself”. So, in a gist one can conclude that the United States is trying to assert that democracies come to the defence of other democracies and also that it is committed to strengthening its ties with Taiwan.