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27 October 2005

Gorbachev: "Pollution, Poverty Could Lead To World Crisis"

Ex-Soviet Leader Says Iraq Invasion Was Mistake

     GREENCASTLE, Ind. - Systemic pollution combined with chronic poverty is leading to the destruction of the earth's ecosystems and could give way to a global crisis, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said Thursday.
     "Without a doubt, everything will depend on what course the world community will take. The future of the world is at stake," he told about 3,000 people at DePauw University's Lilly Center.
     The event was part of a speaking tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of Gorbachev's "perestroika" reforms that helped restructure the Soviet economy in the 1980s.
     This is the former leader's second trip to the U.S. this year.
     Gorbachev, 74, was president of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His ratification of disarmament agreements, along with perestroika and glasnost, a policy of government openness, helped bring down Communist rule in Eastern Europe.
     The Nobel Peace Prize winner founded Green Cross International in 1993, an environmental advocacy group that promotes global interdependence.
     Gorbachev said the world faces a triple threat from security, poverty and environmental crises that could eventually cripple countries and lead to global conflict.
     "I believe the situation in the world today is a conflict between man and nature," he said. "If we don't address the problems, no tanks or missiles or peacekeeping troubles will solve the problem."
     Following his speech, Gorbachev called the U.S. invasion of Iraq a "big political mistake" that was a "blow to democracy."
     "The goals that were set cannot be achieved," he said. "I believe this has not helped the fight on terrorism."
     During his hourlong speech, Gorbachev called for international unity to fight poverty and environmental degradation and work toward worldwide security.
     "You cannot solve a problem by going it alone," he said. "You need united efforts to combat terrorism and combat poverty. We can only have a common future."
     A crowd formed two hours before the start of the speech as students, many of whom were infants and toddlers when Communism fell in Europe, skipped class to hear Gorbachev's speech.
     Kyle Haddock, 23, traveled from Battle Creek, Mich., to hear the speech while visiting his fiancee.
     "It was a pretty radical period in Russian history," he said of Gorbachev's tenure in office. "Stepping away from Communism was such a radical leap."
     Svetlana Kirnos, a Russian exchange student, was hoping to get her picture taken with the former leader.
     "It's a little bit strange to come to America to see Gorbachev," the 20-year-old from Vladivostok in Eastern Russia said. "He did very important things for our country and for the whole world. I want to hear his perspective about what's going on in the world today."
     Laura Pilk, 38, a former Russian linguist with the U.S. Army who studied Soviet theory in college, waited in the cold to get a prime seat for the speech.
     "This guy will go down in history for successfully partnering with world leaders," she said.   "Communism would not have gone away as fast as it did without his contributions."