The Badger Herald (WI)
October 3, 2003

Mikhail Gorbachev comes to Wisconsin

by Natalie J. Mikhail, State Editor
October 03, 2003

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will speak today at Lawrence University on the lessons of the Cold War and how they apply today.

Gorbachev's three-day appearance at the International Community Partnerships Conference in Appleton, Wisc., which began Wednesday, emphasized the dangers of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists. Most nuclear weapons and 90 percent of chemical weapons currently in the world are in the United States and the countries that fashioned the former Soviet Union.

In a speech Wednesday night, Gorbachev suggested these weapons would be tempting to terrorists, who would likely use them in negative ways.

This is the reason Gorbachev advocates the disposal of massive stockpiles of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons left over from the Cold War, now sitting in storage facilities or sheds, often secured with little more than a single padlock.

These weapons are within reach of terrorists groups and black marketers.

University of Wisconsin professor and director of the Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia Robert Kaiser said Gorbachev is warning the public about the implications of Cold War policy in a way similar to the speeches he made at the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.

"Gorbachev is making a direct parallel on global terror and weapons of mass destruction," Kaiser said. "His argument is that both countries made major mistakes and are both losers in creating resources in the arms race."

Although Kaiser disputes the likelihood that Gorbachev's speech would have any impact on Russian politics, he said that Gorbachev's speech in America is significant due to his popularity.

"Gorbachev has influence because of his image that the U.S., particularly the American public, respect," Kaiser said. "He is influential in an incremental way."

The Fox Cities-Kurgan Sister City Program sponsored this Noble Peace Prize laureate for the conference. The program pairs leaders from one U.S. city and one Russian city to create jobs and improve health and educational systems in Russia.

The city of Kurgan was once heavily involved in the arms race. With 5,400 tons of chemical weapons stored in sheds, many residents today are unemployed as a result of the end of the weapons build-up. Gorbachev said the security of the weapons requires improving the economy of the communities surrounding the stockpiles.

"We have a tremendous opportunity and responsibility as individuals and as communities to make a difference in this world," Dr. Montgomery Elmer, Fox Cities-Kurgan Sister Cities president and conference organizer, said in a statement.

Gorbachev spoke to a packed house at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, very near to the Outagamie County Courthouse where a bust of communist-hunting Sen. Joseph McCarthy once created controversy.

Gorbachev also pointed out that the arms race cost trillions of dollars and rubles for the United States and the Soviet Union, but now billions of dollars are needed to dispose of the weapons.

The conference will end today by examining the role grassroots organizations, like the Fox Cities-Kurgan Sister City Program and international partnerships, can play in reducing the threat posed by the Cold War era weapons stockpile. The theme is "security through stability."