Reacting to a July 8 NATO Summit in Warsaw, Poland, 85-year-old former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev blasted the U.S.-backed security organization for gearing up for “offensive operations.” Serving as the last Secretary General of the Soviet Union March 15, 1985 to Aug. 24, 1991, Gorbachev presided over a period of détente and perestroika, preparing the Soviet Union for its eventual end Dec. 25, 1991. Gorbachev bears the scar of presiding over the end of Soviet Union, granting independence to 17 satellites, seized after WWI Dec. 28, 1922, in what became as the Soviet Union. Gorbachev has a short memory for when Russian tanks rolled into Budapest Oct. 23, 1956 or into South Ossentia and Abkhazia, Georgia Aug. 7, 2008, or more recently, into Crimea March 1, 2014. Gorbachev accuses NATO of aggression without taking one inch of sovereign territory.
Since handing the reigns of the Soviet Union to Russian Federation’s first president Boris Yeltsin July 10, 2001, Gorbachev held nostalgia in the U.S., especially for his working relationship with the late President Ronald Reagan. Gorbachev capitalized on the U.S. speaking tour for years, before lapsing into obscurity, in part because of old age. Helping open the Kremlin to the West, Gorbachev showed his pro-Western side until he lost favor with Russia President Vladimir Putin after invading South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008. Since then, Gorbachev’s backed Putin’s attempt to reassert control over former Soviet satellites. Gorbachev complained about NATO’s decision to add 4,000 more international troops to Eastern Europe. “NATO has begun preparations for escalating the Cold War into a hot one,” warning the West that it’s ready to cross that line.
Speaking now as a de facto Kremlin spokesman, Gorbachev fired a shot across NATO’s bow. “All the rhetoric in Warsaw just yells of a desire almost to declare war on Russia. They only talk about defense, but actually they are preparing for offensive operations,” said Gorbachev, not pointing to one instance where NATO encroached on Russian sovereignty. Gorbachev follows Putin inverted logic that he invades sovereign states and then accuses them of invading Russia. NATO’s Secretary Gen. Jens Stoltenberg, former Norway Prime Minister, rejected Gorbachev’s convoluted thinking. “NATO poses no threat to any country. We do not want a new Cold War. We do not want a new arms race. And we do not seek confrontation,” said Stoltenberg, telegraphing a dangerous message to Putin. Telling Putin NATO doesn’t want confrontation with Russia gives Putin the green light.
Since annexing South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008, Putin’s learned that Russia has few obstacles no matter what it does. When Putin sent the Russian army into Crimea, there was little if any resistance. Georgia put up a bigger fight in 2008, only to watch its military devastated by the Russian army. Members of the Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, fear a Russian takeover, seeking more NATO forces and military equipment. Lithuanian President Dahlia Grybauskaite expressed grave concerns about a possible Russian invasion to Secretary of State John Kerry, prompting the NATO buildup. Stoltenberg fired back at Gorbachev’s critique, insisting the NATO build-up was linked to Russia’s seizure of Crimea. Stoltenberg sees Russia modernizing its army for the purpose of conquering once Soviet satellites, like it did in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Crimea.
Stoltenberg sees Putin’s Russia in a more aggressive posture, using a more mobile, modernized Russian military to take what it wants. “Russia is neither a strategic partners—we are not in the strategic partnership with Russia which we tried to develop—but we are neither in a Cold War situation,” said Stoltenberg, ignoring the recent expulsion of Russian and U.S. diplomats in Moscow. “We are in a new situation which is different to anything else we have experienced before,” said Stotenberg, referring to Putin’s need to justify invasions, citing Russian security concerns, or, like he did in Crimea, protecting a Russian-speaking population. Denying return to the Cold War, Stotenberg hasn’t paid attention to the “tit-for-tat” expulsions of Russian and U.S. diplomats in Moscow and Washington. Russia accused to U.S. diplomats in Moscow of working for the CIA.
Gorbachev’s right that today’s new Cold War mentality by Washington and Moscow pushes the world closer to the brink. Seen as bitter rivals in Syria, where the U.S. backs the Saudi proxy war trying to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. President Barack Obama hasn’t helped matters backing a foreign policy that pits the U.S. against Russia in the Middle East. Putin made his feelings known at the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 28, 2015, opposing any move at regime change in Damascus. Since starting air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] Aug. 8, 2014 in Iraq, the U.S. has shown little coordination with Russia. With Russia and U.S. expelling diplomats, U.S.-Russian relations hit a post-Cold War low. “They were declared persona non grata for activities incompatible with their diplomatic status,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, calling U.S. diplomats spies.
