I just heard on the news that Gorbachev is retiring. The man has led the USSR since the eighties. He oversaw the end of the Cold War, the restructuring of the USSR itself in 1991. He essentially saved the Soviet Union from falling apart, though critics have claimed that the decentralized version that resulted from the Union Treaty did not bare much resemblance the USSR of previous years. According to all accounts, the favorite to replace Gorbachev is Russian President Vladamir Putin. Any thoughts on this?