Everything You Think You Know about the Collapse of the Soviet Union is Wrong

[Husar]

(the Politburo discussing the merits of communism is akin to the Pope asking his cardinals if god really exists, that is how poignant -- and ridiculous -- it was)

That's a bad analogy because if the Pope believed God exists, he wouldn't be the pope or try to cover up the child-affairs of his cardinals/priests, but that's another topic...
Or maybe it's a good one and it means that things aren't always what they pretend to be on the outside.

[edyzmedieval]

Even to this day I'm surprised that Gorbachev had such steel balls (yes, it deserves the uncensored word because it's that strong) to push forward with the reforms.