| In declarations to the Argentine daily Pagina
12, the former USSR leader denounced "the end of the
democracy" in the United States For the leader of the Russian
Social-Democrats, the US-led invasion of Iraq was a "serious
political mistake", as on his opinion, there were not
conclusive reasons to attack Saddam Hussein's regime. The last
USSR President also warned about the consequences of the
unilateral US action. "They did whatever they wanted, and this
is a worrying precedent," said Gorbachev.
"It was possible to tolerate such an action in Afghanistan,
where the situation was more clear; however, in Iraq, the US
were deploying its military by the moment UN inspectors
started working in the field", complained Gorbachev in a long
interview published on Monday in the Argentine press. "They
have divided the UN Security Council and the world,
disregarding the global public opinion. This is no longer a
democracy."
According to Gorbachev, the war in Iraq had much more to do
with US's oil needs, than with political reasons. "They are
worried about the energy and took advantage of the existence
of a hated leader; however, Saddam is not a fool: he learned
the lessons of the Gulf War and I do not think he held mass
destruction weaponry in Iraq," concluded Gorbachev.
The interview, made at Gorbachev's offices in Moscow, also
included an extensive dialogue about Russian internal
politics. Gorbachev, the leader of the Russian Social
Democrats, backed Putin's last decisions, both on internal and
foreign affairs and talked about the role of Russia in the
world.
"Russia should keep on rising its voice to world's
superpower (USA), which is now alone and has failed
politically, diplomatically and morally," he explained. "The
United States should understand that the world is not going to
do whatever they want; therefore, Russia and its leadership
have to resist to the end," said Gorbachev.
Regarding the relations between Russia and the European
Union, Gorbachev did not support the creation of a new
Moscow-Berlin-Paris axis. Eventually, this could destroy the
established global institutions, such as the United Nations,
the European Union and the NATO. "Russia is virtually an
associated member of the NATO and should keep that position;
we have to do the same with the European Union."
Gorbachev believes that if Russia enters the European
Union, it could muddle such an organism. Therefore, he will
promote an association to the EU to link Russia to the West,
but not a full integration. "Today, Russia has energetic
responsibilities with the EU and it is linked by our culture
and tourism."
The former USSR leader believes Russia is not yet like a
Western country, but could be in the future. "It is a long
process", he said. "Russia is part of the European culture and
surely, this new cooperation with France and Germany will lead
to a closer collaboration in the near future. Without Russia,
Europe would not exist."
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