Gorbachev: World Appears to Be Preparing for War

He wants Putin, Trump to act
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 27, 2017 5:12 AM CST
Updated Jan 27, 2017 6:33 AM CST
Gorbachev: Putin, Trump Must Push for End to Arms Race
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev speaks at the launch ceremony last year for a book about him entitled "Gorbachev in Life."   (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)

Mikhail Gorbachev, a man who knows a thing or two about being in charge of a nuclear superpower, is very troubled by what he sees in the world today. "Politicians and military leaders sound increasingly belligerent and defense doctrines more dangerous," the former Soviet leader writes in Time. "Commentators and TV personalities are joining the bellicose chorus. It all looks as if the world is preparing for war." Gorbachev—who ruled the USSR from 1985 until its dissolution in 1991—says of the world's many problems, the most urgent is the "militarization of politics and the new arms race," and he warns that with NATO and Russia moving their weapons closer to each other, now is the time to act.

Gorbachev looks back to progress made in 1980s nuclear talks and calls for a return to dialogue. Instead of making terrorism priority No. 1, he writes, the focus should be "on preventing war, phasing out the arms race, and reducing weapons arsenals." He calls for the UN Security Council to "adopt a resolution stating that nuclear war is unacceptable and must never be fought" and says the people who should push for that resolution are Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, who between them control more than 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. The Telegraph notes that Trump described getting the nuclear codes last Friday as "sobering" and "very, very, very scary." (The Doomsday Clock has moved closer to midnight.)

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