Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev Writes In TIME: The Threat Of Nuclear War Seems Real Again

Former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev has penned an essay for TIME Magazine. An excerpt:

Today the nuclear threat once again seems real. Relations between the great powers have been going from bad to worse for several years now. The advocates for arms build-up and the military-industrial complex are rubbing their hands.

We must break out of this situation. We need to resume political dialogue aiming at joint decisions and joint action. There is a view that the dialogue should focus on fighting terrorism. This is indeed an important, urgent task. But, as a core of a normal relationship and eventually partnership, it is not enough.

The focus should once again be on preventing war, phasing out the arms race, and reducing weapons arsenals. The goal should be to agree, not just on nuclear weapons levels and ceilings, but also on missile defense and strategic stability.

In modern world, wars must be outlawed, because none of the global problems we are facing can be resolved by war — not poverty, nor the environment, migration, population growth, or shortages of resources

Gorbachev concludes by urging the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution declaring that that “nuclear war is unacceptable and must never be fought.”