Gorbachev warns of new cold war threat as Berlin marks fall of wall

[malaise]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/08/gorbachev-cold-war-threat-berlin-wall-25th-anniversary
<snip>
Speaking at a symposium near the Brandenburg Gate yesterday morning, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev warned that the world was “on the brink of a new cold war” and strongly criticised the west for having sown the seeds of the current crisis by mishandling the fallout from the collapse of the iron curtain.

“Instead of building new mechanisms and institutions of European security and pursuing a major demilitarisation of European politics … the west, and particularly the United States, declared victory in the cold war,” said the man behind the Soviet Union’s glasnost and perestroika reforms.

“Euphoria and triumphalism went to the heads of western leaders. Taking advantage of Russia’s weakening and the lack of a counterweight, they claimed monopoly leadership and domination in the world.”

The enlargement of Nato, Kosovo, missile defence plans and wars in the Middle East had led to a “collapse of trust”, said Gorbachev, now 83. “To put it metaphorically, a blister has now turned into a bloody, festering wound.”

Previously an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, Gorbachev backed the current Russian president’s stance over Ukraine, urging western leaders to “consider carefully” Putin’s recent remarks at the Valdai forum : “Despite the harshness of his criticism of the west, and of the United States in particular, I see in his speech a desire to find a way to lower tensions and ultimately to build a new basis for partnership.”

[Purveyor]

1. kick. Thanks for posting. +1 eom

[Baclava]

2. Fuck Russia - 'German capital lights up ahead of celebration of fall of Berlin Wall'

Floating wall of light

As part of 25th anniversary celebrations, 8,000 illuminated balloons will line the path of the former border between East and West.



Some 8,000 white helium-filled balloons, illuminated, will be strung along the former no-man's land: from Bornholmer Strasse in the north, across the Mauerpark, past the busy Potsdamer Platz area, to the Oberbaumbrücke, the bridge spanning Friedrichshain in the east and Kreuzberg in the west. The lighted artwork will stretch across a total of 15 kilometers.



http://www.dw.de/floating-wall-of-light/g-18047336

[Old Nick]

3. Video

[Rex]

4. We won't listen to him, it's so bad that some still believe Reagan won the Cold War.

Denial is dangerous.

[louis-t]

5. Blah, blah, blah, Gorby. Yer buddy Reagan ain't here.

Tell Putie to get out of Ukraine.