BERLIN (AP) — Tensions between the major powers have pushed the world closer to a new Cold War, former Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev said Saturday.
The 83-year-old accused the West, particularly the United States, of giving in to "triumphalism" after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the communist bloc a quarter century ago. The result, he said, could partly be seen in the inability of global powers to prevent or resolve conflicts in Yugoslavia, the Middle East and most recently Ukraine.
"The world is on the brink of a new Cold War. Some are even saying that it's already begun," Gorbachev said at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, close to the city's iconic Brandenburg Gate.
Gorbachev called for trust to be restored through dialogue with Moscow, and suggested the West should lift sanctions imposed against senior Russian officials over the country's support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. Failure to achieve security in Europe would make the continent irrelevant in world affairs, he said.
Gorbachev's comments echoed those of Roland Dumas, France's foreign minister at the time the Berlin Wall fell.
"Without freedom between nations, without respect of one nation to another, and without strong and brave disarmament policy, everything could start over again tomorrow," Dumas said. "Even everything we used to know, and what we called the Cold War."
President Barack Obama appeared to share some of Gorbachev's concerns for Europe, though he blamed Moscow for the current tensions.
Paying tribute to the East Berliners who pushed past border guards to flood through the Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, Obama said in a statement Friday that "as Russia's actions against Ukraine remind us, we have more work to do to fully realize our shared vision of a Europe that is whole, free and at peace."
Hey, didn't Obama try to secretly tell Medelyev (or whatever the asshole's name is) to wait until after the election?
ReplyDeleteWell...IT is after the election, and PUTIN is doing what he wants, and obama is following Putin's bidding by doing absolutely NOTHING to help our allies!
Guess what...I am NOT surprised that Russian is walking all over us; that was Obama's plan all along!
If Obama were president when Reagan was president, the USSR would still have been around. Remember, Obama's CHIEF spokesman has posters in his living room of the Russian revolution.
Gorbi...there will be no cold war with Obama. Russia can do WHATEVER it wants without penulty!
BUZZ
OH yeah...one more thing: I find it funny that Obama waints until AFTER the election to do all his nasty shit. Case in point...using his executive pen to ILLEGALLY give aliens citizenship rights. He promised LA RAZA he would give their illegal masses citizenship AFTER the election; I think he will make good on that promise. I hope our Congress grows a pair to stop that maniac!
ReplyDeleteBUZZ
Wow Buzz. Sounds like you would be more comfortable back in the 1830s when a man like you could own some people. Sick POS.
ReplyDeleteEw... You're gross and slimy Buzz. Diane really pulls her readers from the bottom of the barrel.
ReplyDeleteWow, some other people are seeing reason on here... About time, thank you!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, "Buzz?" How racist can you get? When the Union recruited black soldiers in the Civil War, they (by many, many accounts) were more intelligent and made better soldiers than their white counterparts.
Watch the movie "Glory" sometime. Not only did the 54th Massachusetts Regiment have more balls than you or anyone on these comments boards, but it's soldiers were easily trained, responded well to orders, and had a firm grasp of military intelligence.
What reasonable argument can be made to support racism? Because they're different than whites, they're "animals?"
To be honest, I think of you and most of these idiots as sub-human too, but that's not because you're a different race, it's because you're literally retarded.