--- title: Mikhail Gorbachev: Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump Arms Race description: The former Soviet leader calls on Trump, Putin and the U.N. for change canonical: https://time.com/4645442/gorbachev-putin-trump/ author: Mikhail Gorbachev article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-26T22:29:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:42.125Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Mikhail Gorbachev: 'It Looks as if the World Is Preparing for War' og:description: The former Soviet leader calls on Trump, Putin and the U.N. for change og:url: https://time.com/4645442/gorbachev-putin-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e9da08d5e38ca69/6988b78acf40a85545c46399/mikhail-gorbachev1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: RUSSIA-ART-POLITICS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mikhail Gorbachev: 'It Looks as if the World Is Preparing for War' twitter:description: The former Soviet leader calls on Trump, Putin and the U.N. for change twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e9da08d5e38ca69/6988b78acf40a85545c46399/mikhail-gorbachev1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mikhail Gorbachev: 'It All Looks as if the World Is Preparing for War' > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=9a73abca-4dc9-474f-a199-a584d55b6fe7&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Q0tBuF3M.m3u8) (4:12)  _Published 2016-12-07. The 2016 Person of the Year is Donald Trump, the President of the divided states of America._  by [Mikhail Gorbachev](https://time.com/author/mikhail-gorbachev/)  ## Mikhail Gorbachev Jan 26, 2017 10:29 PM UTC  The former head of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev speaks during a ceremony to hand over three paintings by Russian artists to the Museum of Russian Impressionism in Moscow, on Dec. 16, 2016. The former head of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev speaks during a ceremony to hand over three paintings by Russian artists to the Museum of Russian Impressionism in Moscow, on Dec. 16, 2016. Vasily Maximov—AFP/Getty Images  by [Mikhail Gorbachev](https://time.com/author/mikhail-gorbachev/)  ## Mikhail Gorbachev Jan 26, 2017 10:29 PM UTC The world today is overwhelmed with problems. Policymakers seem to be confused and at a loss. But no problem is more urgent today than the militarization of politics and the new arms race. Stopping and reversing [this ruinous race](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/world/europe/vladimir-putin-russia-press-conference.html) must be our top priority. The current situation is too dangerous. More troops, tanks and armored personnel carriers are being brought to Europe. [NATO](http://time.com/4569578/donald-trump-nato-alliance-europe-afghanistan/) and [Russian](http://time.com/4512771/how-russia-wants-undermine-us-election/) forces and weapons that used to be deployed at a distance are now placed closer to each other, as if to shoot point-blank. While state budgets are struggling to fund people’s essential social needs, military spending is growing. Money is easily found for sophisticated weapons whose destructive power is comparable to that of the weapons of mass destruction; for submarines whose single salvo is capable of devastating half a continent; for missile defense systems that undermine strategic stability. Politicians and military leaders sound increasingly belligerent and defense doctrines more dangerous. Commentators and TV personalities are joining the bellicose chorus. It all looks as if the world is preparing for war. **It could have been different** In the second half of the 1980s, together with the U.S., we launched a process of reducing nuclear weapons and lowering the nuclear threat. By now, as Russia and the U.S. reported to the Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference, 80% of the nuclear weapons accumulated during the years of the Cold War have been decommissioned and destroyed. No one’s security has been diminished, and the danger of nuclear war starting as a result of technical failure or accident has been reduced. This was made possible, above all, by the awareness of the leaders of major nuclear powers that nuclear war is unacceptable. [In November 1985](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601851118,00.html), at the first summit in Geneva, the leaders of the Soviet Union and the U.S. declared: Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. Our two nations will not seek military superiority. This statement was met with a sigh of relief worldwide. I recall a [Politburo](https://books.google.com/books?id=1UjdAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT49&lpg=PT49&dq=politburo+1986+gorbachev&source=bl&ots=2zLEq6j7mD&sig=jWY-DsDBM10s-YlZHa%5FPCeIxgu8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjy-6nX7ODRAhVH5iYKHbrIBwEQ6AEIQjAF#v=onepage&q=politburo%201986%20gorbachev&f=false) meeting in 1986 at which the defense doctrine was discussed. The proposed draft contained the following language: “Respond to attack with all available means.” Members of the politburo objected to this formula. All agreed that nuclear weapons must serve only one purpose: preventing war. And the ultimate goal should be a world without nuclear weapons. **Breaking out of the vicious circle** Today, however, 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. **Take the first step** I urge the members of the U.N. Security Council — the body that bears primary responsibility for [international peace and security ](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/world/25prexy.html)— to take the first step. Specifically, I propose that a Security Council meeting at the level of heads of state adopt a resolution stating that nuclear war is unacceptable and must never be fought. I think the initiative to adopt such a resolution should come from [Donald Trump](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/donald-trump-mikhail-gorbachev-impersonator) and Vladimir Putin — the Presidents of two nations that hold over [90% of the world’s nuclear arsenals](http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2013/03/world/nuclear-weapon-states/) and therefore bear a special responsibility. [President Franklin D. Roosevelt](http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/education/001/four%5Ffreedoms/5227.html) once said that one of the main freedoms is freedom from fear. Today, the burden of fear and the stress of bearing it is felt by millions of people, and the main reason for it is militarism, armed conflicts, the arms race, and the nuclear Sword of Damocles. Ridding the world of this fear means making people freer. This should become a common goal. Many other problems would then be easier to resolve. The time to decide and act is now. ## Transcript MUSIC ] Every year we choose the Person of the Year who is the individual who has had the most influence on events for better or worse. The Tod argue that anyone had no influence that Donald Trump over the events of this year. [ MUSIC ] I didn't get Beyonce and Jay Z and Goose Bernstein to get crowds, I had just me. And ideas that people wanted to hear. But there is a profound argument about whether his influence was for the better or for the worse. And that really is the challenge that faces the country came through this election season more divided conspicuously publicly than at any time through any election cycle that most of us Can remember. [ MUSIC ] We're gonna have a lot of jobs put back. I think we're gonna have a lot of fuel companies leaving our country. I believed we will be successful with defeating ISIS or bringing them down to a level where it's almost the same thing. And I hope I'm judged from the time of the election as opposed to from January 20th because the stock market has had a tremendous bounce and people are seeing very good things for business in this country. [ MUSIC ] One of the things that was remarkable in going to see him, to interview him, is to be in that Penthouse which is the most austiontacious, imaginable marble and mirrors, and gold. And see him in the suit and the diamond cuff links. There is a kind of distance that repressed him about, of how is it that the billionaire is the tribune of the working man? He said, he thought that it had to do With that he wasn't a phony, that there have certainly been wealthy politicians before. Doing some cases would bend over backwards to make themselves appear like the common man, or do anything that they could, eating the corn dog at the Iowa State Fair, wearing a flannel shirt in New Hampshire. I think he had a very strong instinct that his wealth and that flamboyant display of his wealth Was not a liability that it was actually an asset. [ MUSIC ] Donal Trump is very comfortable sitting down and answering questions, although he very frequently does not remotely answer the question that you asked. In one sense it feels very undisciplined and in another sense maybe it's very disciplined in that He knows what he will and will not talk about and is unabashed in completely changing the subject. Do you feel changed by your election, and how you do think, if I play this tape back in four or eight years, the office will have changed here? Well, it's a It's a very humbling experience, I can tell you, as somebody that loves this country, it's a very large country, but it's also an even more powerful country than the numbers, because, if you look at China, and India, and you have others with more people, but, when you look at what we do in this country, it's The most incredible place on earth. [ MUSIC ] A lot of people think that Person of the Year just because the nature of the name is an honor. And certainly there have been years where we have recognized people's whose influence has been altogether, unassailably worthy. Normally, that's not the case. I know there are a lot of people who disagree with so much of what Donald Trump said and are very apprehensive about what his presidency means for them and for the country. I think I would challenge them to suggest that someone else this year had more influence than a way greater Surprise than what he did in 2016. 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