The implosion of Russia, which spawned the circumstances facing us today, was sparked by more than simply George H. W. Bush USA policy.
It was a result of many issues, including that of Chernobyl. However, Boris Yeltsin played a roll in Russia's disintegration when he allowed pervasive corruption which lead to economic collapse. Sound familiar? You know the 'economic strategies' for any country are really finite. They have 'new' potential with discoveries in science and cultural expansion, but, if a government becomes corrupt it moves outside the 'science' of economics and allows internal destruction of its own bouyancy. No different than Russia under Yeltsin, the USA now faces similar circumstances.
Regardless, Mr. Gorbachev has lead Russia during difficult transitions and understands not only Russia but the Soviet States that once lined Russia's borders. I trust his judgement. He provided an interview last night and all he says can't be wrong. The world needs to reflect seriously on the struggles of the people that are a part of a former Georgian state and their desire to leave that leadership for the protections of Russia. The Russian peacekeepers were there for a reason after all.
Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev found their roles dramatically reversed
The Gorbachev Foundation (click here)
The Gorbachev Foundation in the USA is located at Northeastern University. They will soon be holding a seminar regarding Democracy and its energy crisis (click here). I would hardly call that someone that didn't care about democracy or the people of the USA.
His words during the interview last night are below. I found them rather remarkable.
President Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union -- he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize back in 1990 -- wrote a "Washington Post" op-ed earlier this week titled "The Path To Peace in the Caucasus."
GORBACHEV (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Well, this is all lies from beginning to end. And I am -- really, I really think this is really beyond comprehension. I have heard the opinion of Eduard Shevardnadze. He knows what the situation is on their side.
So it was all at night, a little past midnight, when the city was asleep. Then from all sides, it was shelled with shells of enormous power. They used artillery. They used aircraft. They used all weapons of killing. And this is really amazing.
Tskhinvali, in fact, was devastated by fire from multiple rocket launchers against people, against housing, against hospitals, against water and sanitation, against the energy and communication infrastructure. All of that was destroyed. The old monuments were destroyed. And they were among the oldest in the Caucasus. The ancestral graves were ruined -- were then trampled by tanks.
GORBACHEV (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, indeed. There is no doubt about it (that Georgia stated this).What is more, the response required the movement of additional forces into South Ossetia because Tskhinvali was attacked by a powerful force, by an armada. And I remember the Second World War. I remember the front. I remember the occupation. I saw terrible weapons used. But this was the use of sophisticated weapons against a small town, against sleeping people. This was a barbaric assault.
GORBACHEV (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): No. Russia was responding to what happened in Tskhinvali. Russia needed to address this. Russia could not avoid addressing this assault and this devastation and the killings of people, the devastation of the city. The peacekeepers had been there for some time. There were all kinds of things happening. But there were still possibilities for dialogue. And there was some dialogue going on and they were considering certain options and possibilities.
So Russia was ready to continue to fulfill its functions. There is just no doubt about it. And I don't know why it's happened that it has been presented that Russia invaded Georgia. This is really disinformation. This is all lies. It means that this plan -- there was a plan to attack Ossetia and also to misinform people. It's a kind of information war. I think now that they are showing the city, it is becoming clearer what happened.
GORBACHEV (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Russia has a mandate. And after events like these, Russia should stay, but certainly within the mandate, within the peacekeeping mandate.
GORBACHEV (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Well, I think that what is really important is -- well, we can understand what people are saying and what people are saying with regard to Saakashvili, because Saakashvili had misled Europe. He misled the United States, unless were to think that it was all an American project and that Saakashvili just implemented it.
This was a total surprise as regards the peacekeeping contingent there. So he's a person who certainly does not deserve trust. But this is for the Georgians to decide.
GORBACHEV (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I think that both have powers in accordance with the constitution (referring to the current Russian President and Prime Minister). In accordance with the constitution, their powers, their competence is constitutional. Those are people who have known each other politically and in human terms for 15 years. And so no one should expect things in Russia to kind of go haywire.
It started when our prime minister was in Beijing during the opening of the Olympics. The president was taking decisions. He acted confidently and calmly, although this was a difficult emotional experience for him.
We have now seen what happened. Western television didn't show what happened in Tskhinvali. Only now, they're beginning to show some pictures of the destruction.
So this looks to me like it was a well prepared project and with any outcome they wanted to put the blame on Russia. I believe I can say responsibly, and I have a person who has a moral right to say so, Russia, in this situation, acted in responding to Georgian aggression.
GORBACHEV (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Certainly. Certainly, yes )the USA can trust the two leaders of Russia). And I have to tell you, I am pleased that even though dramatic and tragic things happened, there are still human relations between Russians and Georgians. And that mutual affection that developed over centuries is still there. It's now up to the politicians.
GORBACHEV (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Well, you know, it's been some time, for a couple of years, two or three years there's been talk about this, because we have seen -- we are seeing what is happening in Europe, in the Middle East and some other regions. We also see some things that are happening in the south, in Asia, in the south of Russia. And this is of some concern.
And what is of particular concern to me -- and this is something that I will be writing about in a special article -- and that is that we are witnessing -- definitely witnessing a process of militarization in the world today. And this is a big danger.
Military budgets are growing. Weapons trade is going on at a hectic pace. Look at Georgia. Had Georgia not been armed to the teeth, it wouldn't have done what it has done. A small state has a $1 billion military budget. All kinds of countries participated, but particularly the United States armed Georgia with sophisticated weapons -- aircraft, land weapons. Mountains of weapons were supplied to Georgia.
And I think that this is the inevitable outcome, when weapons budgets -- military budgets grow, when weapons pile up, it works one day. It actually shoots one day. And this is what happened.
So I think that the signs of a cold war are present. But we still have time to prevent it.
I wanted to add that I am greatly concerned about something that I've been watching. And, of course, I've been visiting the United States. I've been talking to people there. I've been talking to large audiences, groups of thousands of people. But I've been also talking to policy makers, business leaders and others. And I've been saying that we have not been able to establish a sound relationship between Russia and the United States after the end of the cold war.
I believe that the United States has made mistakes for which the people have to pay. For example, the military budget of the United States is over $600 billion. That's about half of the world's military budget. And I would say that we need a new agenda in relations of our two nations. There have been some attempts, some talk, but we've not been able to move things off the ground to sort out our relationship.
Often, under the guise of promoting national interests, so everything is forgotten. Everything is forgotten, such as the new realities of the world today, the interests of other countries. And then we see situations that lead to conflict.
Would Saakashvili have mustered the courage to create a situation that actually threatened a clash with Russia without support, without protection?
There was support and protection. And even now we see that the United States is trying to support and justify Saakashvili. I think you shouldn't be doing this, because this could cause even more complications. There is a chance for our two countries to develop a new agenda for cooperation so as to promote both U.S. and Russian interests, and the interests of other countries, and the interests of stability, particularly in the hot spots in different continents. And I welcomed the idea of creating a bipartisan commission on relations between Russia and the United States. I believe that this is a good idea and it will be useful for both of our countries.
GORBACHEV (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Well (in regard to current course of relations between the countries), if things just are allowed to go on, if all of us just continue along the same lines of mistakes and illusions, without seeing the new realities to which we should adjust our policies -- I think we should do it on both sides. But if we don't do it, then it could really cause very severe complications.
The United States should not think that the attempt to decide every issue militarily will work. I believe that the United States -- the United States people don't want this. I wrote an article for "The Washington Post" and I have seen some of the more than 400 opinions of the people about this. And I was surprised that people are really seeing very clearly how important the relationship between Russia and the United States is. So let's listen to the people.
GORBACHEV (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Well, Russia doesn't need anything from Georgia. We just want this nation -- the people with whom we have been living for 300 years as friends and brothers, this friendship still continues. We don't want problems from there.
I don't think we have problems between our two nations. But outside interference pushes things in the wrong direction.
Of course, it's a big crossroads -- oil and oil pipelines, etc. And so we see competition. And I don't think that there's a need for so many weapons there and for conflicts.
In order to work things out, we need to reestablish trust and then we will be able to solve any problems. Without trust, no, that will not work. If we just have individual steps, that will not work.
In the second half of the 1980s, we worked together in a -- we created a new situation. We created trust. And based on that, we started to eliminate nuclear weapons. We started to reduce conventional weapons in Europe. We opened the way for people to choose -- to choose what they want to choose -- their regimes, their government, etc. And most of the regional conflicts were settled at that time, with the exception of the Middle East.
So trust is the key word.
