Gorbachev: "No Security if Poverty Persists"

     Curbing poverty and building stronger international alliances are key to maintaining security and spreading democracy, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said Wednesday.
     "It is hard to imagine a calm, safe and secure world" where so many people live in poverty, Gorbachev said through an interpreter at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law.
     "If people's lives are not becoming better, people begin to change their minds and say democracy is worthless," he said during a question-and-answer session before an audience of about 400.
     Gorbachev has been touring the United States since last week, celebrating the 20th anniversary of "perestroika" — the government reforms he led in the former Soviet Union.
     The reforms were accompanied by the fall of communism, the spread of democracy in Eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
     Gorbachev also criticized the lack of cooperation from governments, particularly the United States, in facing environmental issues. The failure of the U.S. to adopt collaborative agreements, such as the Kyoto protocol to reduce greenhouse gases, shows "there is a gap between words and deeds," he said.
     Gorbachev founded Green Cross International in 1993 to encourage business, government and other organizations to collaborate on solutions to environmental problems.
     In 1990, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to reduce tensions with the West.

Associated Press, October 27, 2005