• by Mikhail Gorbachev
• Tuesday, June 30, 2009
• Inter Press Service

One of the most urgent problems of today's world is the danger of nuclear weapons. The unexpected nuclear test by North Korea on May 25 and the test-firing of a series of short-range missiles is the latest, frightening reminder, writes Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union from 1985-1991.

Nothing fundamentally new has been achieved in the area of nuclear disarmament in the past decade and a half. Twenty years after the end of the Cold War, the arsenals of the nuclear powers still contain thousands of weapons, and the world is facing the very real possibility of a new arms race

After the Cold War ended, instead of creating a new architecture of international security based on real cooperation, an attempt was made to impose on the world a "monopoly leadership" by the sole remaining superpower and the institutions and organisations, like NATO, that were inherited from the Cold War. The use and the threat of force were reasserted as a "normal" mode of solving problems. Official documents rationalised doctrines of pre-emptive strike and the need for US military superiority.

Humanity must be wary of a new arms race: priority is still being given to financing of military programmes, and "defence" budgets far exceeding reasonable security requirements keep growing, as does the weapons trade. The nuclear danger can only be removed by abolishing nuclear weapons. But unless we address the need to demilitarise international relations, reduce military budgets, put an end to the creation of new kinds of weapons, and prevent the weaponisation of outer space, all talk about a nuclear-weapon-free world will be just rhetoric.

(*) Mikhail Gorbachev was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985-1991.

//NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN THE UNITED STATES//

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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