Gorbachev on Larry KIng

I just finished watching Mikhail Gorbachev's appearance on the Larry King show. While Larry asks questions that hit as hard as a marshmallow, Gorbachev made some interesting comments.

He began by placing the blame for the conflict squarely on Georgia. Gorbachev said the Georgians opened the conflict with a massive, late-night artillery barrage on the South Ossetian capital Tsinkvali. The Russians claim that more than 1,500 people were killed in Tsinkvali (though this figure is disputed by the Georgians and has not been verified by outside sources), while the city's mayor claims that 70% of the buildings have been destroyed or damaged (Western journalists have confirmed the damage to the city to be widespread). Gorbachev said that he had information from the former Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze confirming both the assault and saying that the Georgians in the attack used precision weapons. Gorbachev said that the Russians had to respond to the attack on civilians in South Ossetia.

Throughout the interview he was highly critical of President Mikhail Saakashvili, who he blamed for launching the attack on Tsinkvali. He was also critical of the United States for "propping up" Saakashvili and encouraging him to massively build up the Georgian military (he said that Georgia, a nation of just 4 million, had spent over $1 billion on their military, and received a lot of high tech gear from the United States). Gorbachev said that the outside interference in Georgian relations with Russia caused them to deteriorate. He cited the 300 yearlong relationship between Russia and Georgia and said that most Russians have warm feelings towards the people of Georgia (which is something true of the Russians I know).

Larry then asked Gorbachev if he thought a new Cold War was starting. Gorbachev said not yet, but that it was possible. His answer though was interesting. He blamed rising tensions on steadily increasing military spending around the world. Gorbachev noted that the amount spent annually in the United States on defense accounts for half of the world's military spending. He also put part of the blame for the current Russian-Georgian conflict on Georgia's large military build up in the past several years, saying that when weapons pile up, conflict is inevitable.

Finally Gorbachev expressed concern that the relationship between the United States and Russia has not progressed since the end of the Cold War. Basically, he said that US policy makers were stuck in a Cold War mindset - not only could they not see Russia as anything but an adversary, but they were not tuned into the realities of the world today, including the interests of other countries. Gorbachev also accused the United States of always trying to solve policy problems around the world with military force.