Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Gorbachev: US could start new Cold War

From Nato's expansion plans in the former Soviet Union to Washington's proposals for a bigger defence budget and a missile shield in central Europe, the US was deliberately quashing hopes for permanent peace with Russia, Mr Gorbachev said.

"We had 10 years after the Cold War to build a new world order and yet we squandered them," he said. "The United States cannot tolerate anyone acting independently. Every US president has to have a war."

"The problem is not with Russia," he said, speaking at a friend's château outside Paris. "Russia does not have enemies and Putin is not going to start a war against the United States or any other country for that matter. "Yet we see the United States approving a military budget and the defence secretary pledging to strengthen conventional forces because of the possibility of a war with China or Russia. "I sometimes have a feeling that the United States is going to wage war against the entire world."

"The Americans promised that Nato wouldn't move beyond the boundaries of Germany after the Cold War but now half of central and eastern Europe are members, so what happened to their promises? It shows they cannot be trusted."

"There is a phenomenon in the West to criticise Putin's domestic record. But in Russia he has mass support. His popularity ratings are 70 to 80 percent. "Is this not democracy?"

No comments:

Post a Comment