There was a short moment when that might have begun. Gorbachev might have successfully brought his country from statism to Scandinavian-style socialism.

There were some internal issues blocking him, but probably more significant was the delay while the Reagan administration tried to figure out if the guy was for real and if he was whether he had an actual chance or was going to be deposed in the next month or two.

Had he succeeded, Russia now might be more closely connected to Europe - not just as an energy and mineral exporter but part of the industrialized web. Given Scandinavian socialism, that generation of Russians might have opted to have children, which, given that that was about 30 years ago, might be fixing Russia's upside-down demographics. The education system would have restarted so those 30-year-olds would be ready to take over from the last generation of USSR-educated people — who are now retiring/retired.

The US (and North America) would by now be quite a different place. Since WWII, the US has been both protecting blue water trade and allowing members of 'the global order’ access to its markets; it's been sacrificing jobs and manufacturing capacity as part of the 'deal' (Bretton Woods). Why? It was all about isolating the USSR.

The US could have backed away from that a bit, retained more lower-to-mid production jobs, not turned the northern Midwest into a 'rust belt' - and I'd imagine politics would be quite different today.

Gorbachev might have been trying to save just his country - but he could have made things better for us all.

Disclaimer (if it isn't totally clear): the man's one of my heroes.