Gorbachev Objects to Building Wall Between U.S. and Mexico

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev criticized U.S. plans to build a 700-mile (1,130-kilometer) fence on the nation’s southern border, AP reports.

Gorbachev, visiting President George W. Bush’s hometown on Tuesday for a lecture series at The University of Texas of the Permian Basin, said fixing the border requires new ideas and cooperation.

“I don’t think the U.S. is so weak and so much lacks confidence as not to be able to find a different solution,” he said in report published in Wednesday editions of the Midland Reporter-Telegram.

Bush signed a homeland security funding bill earlier this month that includes $1.2 billion (A960 million) for fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border to stop illegal immigrants and criminals from sneaking over.

Gorbachev, the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winner, recalled President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 visit to the Berlin Wall, when he called on Gorbachev to tear down the wall.

“Now the United States seems to be building almost the Wall of China between itself and this other nation with which it has been associated for many decades and has had cooperation and interaction with,” he said.

In a speech that also touched on international issues related to Iraq and North Korea, Gorbachev said the collaboration between the United States and Russia that ended the Cold War “was mostly squandered.”

He said the United States should re-establish a deeper friendship with Russia. He accused the United States of developing a case of “winner’s disease” that is hurting its efforts in international security and cooperation.

“The U.S. seems to believe it has won the Cold War and everything is OK and there is no need for change,” he said in a story in Wednesday editions of the Odessa American. “Now we are in a situation again where we need to rethink what we do.”

Popularity: 6% [?]

• Posted in: Russia, International Relations, Mexico, George W. Bush, Mikhail Gorbachev
• Comments: 0