This was an enduring triumph for the west, democratic values, and for free societies everywhere.įive hundred metres away is Grosvenor Street. Reagan, the monument says, defeated communism.
It is a piece of the Berlin Wall, retrieved from the east side.
Next to the inscriptions is a sandy-coloured chunk of masonry. The quotes would seem mordantly ironic in the light of events that took place just around the corner, and amid Vladimir Putin’s apparent attempt to turn the clock back to 1982, when the former KGB boss Yuri Andropov – the secret policeman’s secret policeman – was in charge of a doomed empire known as the Soviet Union. A friendly tribute from Mikhail Gorbachev reads: “With President Reagan, we travelled the world from confrontation to cooperation.” An inscription hails Reagan’s contribution to world history and his “determined intervention to end the cold war”. In 2011 another statue would appear: that of the late US president Ronald Reagan. A statue of Franklin D Roosevelt – wearing a large cape and holding a stick – dominates the north side of the square.
It overlooks Grosvenor Square, and is practically next door to the heavily guarded US embassy, where, it is rumoured, the CIA has its station on the fourth floor.
T he Millennium hotel is an unusual spot for a murder.
