The death of Mikhail Gorbachev at the end of the summer inevitably brings to mind another end of August, 1991, when the world witnessed the beginning of the end of the USSR on television. The coup organized by the CPSU and KGB faction failed but hastened the collapse of the regime; the prohibition of the hitherto omnipotent Communist Party and the immediate independence of the eleven Soviet republics. Photos of the President of Russia Boris Yeltsin the compulsion of Gorbachev, the eminent institutional theorist, to read before parliament a document blaming members of his own government for the failed attempt has remained as a symbol of the confused sequence of events of those days. Yeltsin will also be the protagonist of the December proclamation, along with the leaders of Belarus and Ukraine, of the collapse of the USSR. In the absence of this meeting, it took several weeks for the deposed Gorbachev to resign.

In the vast territory of this collapsing colossus, thousands of believers apparatchiks they skillfully changed their oath and devoted themselves to the cause of the then revived homeland, be it Russia or Kyrgyzstan. Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels: it’s never been so true that Samuel Johnson. And from those tings Vladimir Putin.

Gorbachev left, but remained a pop icon, a member of the constellation of political leaders -Reagan, Thatcher, Mitterrand, John Paul II– which got its brilliance from the dizzying reshaping of the world order they presided over, and which manifested itself in the worldwide popularity of rock stars, proof of ideological divisions that no successive leader has been able to achieve.

The then ubiquitous television worked a miracle. When we all saw the same thing, the small screen homologated Reagan’s historic speech at the Brandenburg Gate – “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!“-, video madonna and the lukewarm performances of the Princess of Wales.

Like Gorbachev in 1991 and 2022, Lady Dee was another late victim of August. Twenty-five years ago, the news of his death sounded like part of a dream when he awoke on that Sunday morning in 1997, when the television turned on one of those reports that sucked everything in like a black hole. Unusual events seem like a lie on a Sunday in August, and that high-speed accident with a pole in a Paris tunnel seemed like a cinematic epilogue of summer, a scene from a film of that time – like the first Mission impossiblefilmed in great detail and with superior taste – revolving door Ritz, Mercedes S280 – in elegant international locations to greater glory Tom Cruise. And then long days of funeral honors on royal English stages, singers, Hollywood actors including Tom Cruise, international models and designers mixed with politicians and royalty at the Westminster funeral were broadcast live to the world.

The internet was in its infancy and there were no mobile phones. ready. From television, newspapers and magazines, the events have left an indelible mark on the memory of childhood, leaving an indelible mark that on anniversaries and silly moments of nostalgia is presented with irresistible warmth. The feeling of the end of summer, a time that is cooling down, changed by this unique news, returns every year, seasoning the change of cycle, confirming the future and futility, remembering Gorbachev and Lady Di. Recognizable places to hold on to at the beginning of a course in which it doesn’t update and as one of the characters said in rings of powerAmazon’s new series that takes us back to the universe Lord of the Rings and which opens this Friday, “the sky is strange.” Nonetheless, happy september.