Without Cutting Military Budgets, Nuclear Demilitarization Talks Are ‘Empty Words’: Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet Leader, believes international politicians should bring demilitarization back to the agenda, he told Spiegel Online, the website of Der Spiegel, a leading German newspaper. He said that military budgets should be reduced and militarizing space should be prohibited.

Gorbachev also said that there should be a moratorium on the development of new types of military weapons. He added that discussions about nuclear demilitarization would be merely “empty words” if those actions were not taken by national leaders.

The former Soviet leader said that the present trend of militarization would eventually bring defeat to all. He added it was applicable to even those who wanted to dominate the world.

The 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winner said he was “very worried” about a potential nuclear war, saying nuclear powers still had thousands of nuclear weapons.

According to the former Soviet leader, Europe had nuclear weapons stationed and the “pace of reducing stockpiles has slowed considerably.” Gorbachev added that the militarization of space was a real danger.

Gorbachev talked about a potential new cold war between Russia and the United States. “Talks between both powers over important global problems have practically been put on ice,” Russia Today quoted him as saying. “Trust, the very capital we worked so hard to build, has been destroyed.”

While Russia and the United States disagree with each other on a number of major issues, both the nations will back a United Nations Security Council resolution for Syria. The New York Times reported the resolution would identify the perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov came to an agreement Wednesday to support the resolution.