As the Soviet Union’s final leader, Mikhail Gorbachev dreamed of a “common European home,” but three decades later that tantalizing idea remains out of reach. By Roger Cohen PARIS — Mikhail S.

At the funeral of Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, the size of the crowds signaled the depth of the regret about the undoing of the freedoms that his tenure initiated. By Valerie Hopkins ...

Russian folk culture cherishes the figure of the holy fool. Derived from Orthodox Christianity, the holy fool is out of sync with conventional society. The holy fool speaks the truth, though to others ...