{"id":30574,"date":"2020-07-01T09:38:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T07:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/politics\/gorbachev-no-more-war-for-a-nuclear-free-world.html"},"modified":"2020-07-05T13:11:59","modified_gmt":"2020-07-05T11:11:59","slug":"gorbachev-no-more-war-for-a-nuclear-free-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/en\/franz-alt-en\/comments-interviews\/gorbachev-no-more-war-for-a-nuclear-free-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Gorbachev: \u201cNo more war \u2013 For a nuclear-free world\u201c"},"content":{"rendered":"
Shortly before Christmas 2016, Russia\u2019s autocrat Putin as well as his new opponent, US egomane Trump, announced plans to \u201cmodernise\u201d their nuclear arsenals. Are we heading in 2017 for another nuclear arms race or a renewal of the Cold War? In his new book, just published together with TV journalist Franz Alt, Mikhail Gorbachev, who overcame the Cold War of the past, warns against this trend.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Due to his book \u201cPeace is Possible\u201d Alt had, in the 80s, great influence on the peace movement in East and West. This book was published in 12 languages and was sold a million times in Germany alone.<\/p>\n
Referring to his latest book \u201cCome to your senses at last \u2013 no more war\u201c Franz Alt writes:<\/p>\n
At the end of last October, we\u2019re sitting in the Gorbachev Foundation in Moscow, adding the finishing touches to our common book. Outside the first snow is beginning to fall. The frosty weather fits well to the present climate between Russia and the West.<\/p>\n
Gorbachev, however, is still speaking imperturbably of \u201cpossible reconciliation\u201d and recalls that even in the Cold War 30 years ago, reconciliation and disarmament were made possible by mutual trust. On TV, President Putin, according to Gorbachev, had, the night before, also spoken of reconciliation.<\/p>\n
While I object that Putin\u2019s words and deeds often contradict each other, he says: \u201cWait and see. We need patience. That is what I expect from both sides. At present everybody is making mistakes. I still see the threat of a nuclear war, as long as the last atomic bomb hasn\u2019t been dismantled. Such a war would be the final one in the history of mankind. Nobody would be left to start another war.\u201d<\/p>\n
I am convinced that this voice of reconciliation and reason is today as important as in the past century, when the world was on the brink of a nuclear abyss. Hence our book with the voice of a great politician. On my flight to Moscow I read in Western newspapers appalled comments on Russian bombs in Syria. Shortly afterwards in Moscow papers, there were similar reactions to Western bombs in the Middle East. Are there good bombs and bad bombs? The good ones from our side and the bad ones from the other side?<\/p>\n
On my visit I also learn that Mikhail Gorbachev co-founded and sponsored the Nowaja Gazeta<\/em>, one of the few independent newspapers in Russia. He is still a shareholder. Since the year 2000 five journalists of this paper \u2013 among them the famous Russian journalist Anna Politkowskaja \u2013 were killed and several other colleagues severely injured. This paper was the only one in Russia to co-investigate into the Panama Papers \u2013 much to the discontent of the Russian rulers.<\/p>\n
In these times with new enemy stereotypes there is a vital need for a mediating and reconciling voice like 85-year-old experienced and courageous Mikhail Gorbachev. He consistently cherishes his idea: \u201cNo more war! Peace is possible. Always. That is a matter of reason and practical intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n
I now ask him whether he is disappointed about today\u2019s Russia and whether his lifework, \u201cglasnost\u201d (opening) and \u201cperestroika\u201d (change), is today destroyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not disappointment but deep concern about the situation in Russia and all over Europe,\u201d he says. And evading my question whether he is happy: \u201cThere are no happy reformers. Only very few could reap the harvest of their reforms themselves. But I had the historic chance to contribute to a real change for the better in my own country and a positive change all over the world. That is what I am grateful for.\u201d<\/p>\n
This strikes a German journalist as pure modesty, considering that we owe Mikhail Gorbachev the peaceful reunification. \u201cIn Russia,\u201d he says, \u201cperestroika came to a standstill, it is true, but today millions of Russians and many people in other countries can still enjoy the fruits of my reforms. My lifework is not dead.\u201d How did he cope with his resignation as president of the Soviet Union 25 years ago? \u201cThat was, back then, a coup against me. But if I hadn\u2019t resigned, a civil war might have broken out. My resignation was my victory.\u201d<\/p>\n
The grand old man had welcomed me for a three-hour-talk with these words: \u201cI\u2019ve been living without Raissa for 17 years now.\u201d In his foundation I see many pictures of his wife, far more than of US President Bush, Helmut Kohl or of the then Soviet political leaders.<\/p>\n
Whoever has often met Gorbachev knows about his intimate relationship with Raissa and the great love that united this couple. 20 years ago, I asked him in an interview on the TV channel ARD from where he drew the strength for his controversial reforms. Laughing, he pointed at his wife, who was standing behind the camera. She smiled back. This was t h e couple in the political world of the 20th<\/sup> century. Mikhail learnt from Raissa that confidence is the gold standard of all relations, be they private or international.<\/p>\n
In politics this means: Seeing and understanding matters from the other\u2019s point of view. Only like that, Gorbachev keeps saying, do you find common interests. And only on the basis of such fundamental trust could he risk a policy of unilateral concessions. As early as 1996 he had told me: \u201cOnly with the support of the Western peace movement could I implement my policy of disarmament against the hardliners in the Kremlin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our book will first appear in seven languages \u2013 next to German, also in Russian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese. The title shows how worried the ex-politician is today about the situation in Europe. \u201cThe cold war is back. It could even become a hot one,\u201d he warns, adding: \u201cIn the eighties, we were sitting on top of a nuclear volcano. Peace was hanging by a thread. But still, President Reagan and I found a way to nuclear disarmament. 80% of all nuclear arms could be dismantled. Why shouldn\u2019t be possible today what was possible back then?\u201d<\/p>\n
And still optimistically, he now asks in our book: \u201cWhy do today\u2019s politicians not follow this example? Both sides, the West and Russia, are continuously making mistakes, the chief mistake being that, after 1991, the West played the winner over the Soviet Union and keeps provoking it until today. Even militarily. You don\u2019t make peace by sabre-rattling. Many agreements were not kept by the West.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn those days you dissolved the military Warsaw Pact. Should the West at least dissolve NATO now? Would that be a contribution to peace and d\u00e9tente?\u201d I enquire. \u201cFor that it is too late\u201d, Gorbachev replies resignedly.<\/p>\n
Concerning domestic politics he criticizes his present successor Putin harshly. However, he refrains from criticizing his foreign policy, although Putin is not much of a pacifist, as his policy concerning Syria has amply proved. \u201cBoth sides have to disarm. You should build trust in Putin. He also is good at heart. We need patience,\u201d Gorbachev says, adding: \u201cThinking of peace means thinking of our children. That is essential. Another nuclear arms race would be madness and contrary to our practical intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only by overcoming existing enemy stereotypes can we find new ways to peace. Therefore we do need politicians like Mikhail Gorbachev, who once had the courage to take the first step to disarmament. He made possible what had seemed impossible. Today, however, I don\u2019t see anybody around like Gorbachev \u2013 neither in the West nor in the East.<\/p>\n
Even a quarter of a century after his resignation, \u201cGorbi\u201d has not lost his sense of humour. Bidding farewell he rises, clutches his crutch, and says with a laugh: \u201cFor two years I\u2019ve been walking on three feet.\u201d In the West, he is considered a hero by most people, yet in Russia by many a \u201ctraitor\u201d. This man ultimately destroyed an empire and left millions of loyalist officials unemployed and politically homeless. He receives murder threats almost daily.<\/p>\n
It is his achievement that 30 years ago, the \u201cnuclear balance of fear\u201d became a balance of reason \u2013 at least for a while. We can and have to learn from him. We can still realize the far-sighted vision of the Nobel Peace Prize winner and build our \u201ccommon house of Europe\u201d. Today we need global glasnost and global perestroika. And no further NATO troops along the Russian border.<\/p>\n
![\"Benevento](\"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/MichaelGorbatschow_AppellKrieg_Cover.jpg\")
<\/div>\n