Gorbachev: “Nuclear Weapons Must be Destroyed”

Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, the man who brought down the Iron Curtain, which in turn ended the Cold War, came out with a warning on Sunday regarding nuclear weapons.

“All nations should declare, all nations, that nuclear weapons must be destroyed. This is to save ourselves and our planet,” he said in an interview with Steve Rosenberg of BBC.

A Historic Deal Broken

Gorbachev was quite thrown off last year by Trump’s decision to withdraw from a Cold War treaty that Gorbachev himself and President Ronald Reagan signed in 1987 regarding nuclear weapons, (the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty) which entailed that the United States and then-Soviet Union would both eliminate their stocks of intermediate-range and medium-range land-based missiles.

After the announcement was made that the U.S. was pulling off from the deal, Gorbachev had an interview with the Interfax News agency, in which he asked:

“Do they really not understand in Washington what this can lead to? All agreements aimed at nuclear disarmament and limiting nuclear weapons must be preserved, for the sake of preserving life on earth.”

This Sunday, the former leader of the Soviet Union, expressed his concern once more, voicing his beliefs that nuclear weapons are not something mankind should play around with and keep, but something that should be destroyed, if we all want to stay alive.

“In different places, there are skirmishes, there is shooting, aircraft and ships are being sent here, there and everywhere. This is not the kind of situation we want,” he said.

Will The New Blood Listen to the Old Guard?

The question at hand is, would the new leaders of the modern world listen to the concerns and warnings of a past leader, who has been through war, and seems to realize the dangers of nuclear weapons? With the current political situation around the world, it’s very doubtful that many would willingly choose to abolish their nuclear power, holding onto their missiles for the sake of peace.