and later every hanukah arrived in beaumont to meet west german chancellor helmut kohl images of the historic visit suggested a relaxing of relations while also indicating that the status quo would remain a divided germany but most of us didn't see those changes coming and when i say most of us are not simply talking about americans but also west germans mean we had meetings with with west german diplomats with people in the b. and d. and others nobody saw the end of the wall really coming. in fact i remember maybe in 198788 i had some german businessmen at my residence in bonn for dinner and they were telling me how is the east german economy was the was the best economy in eastern europe that they were that those companies in east germany were were really good companies because while they may have been living in they may have been in a communist system they were still german but east germany was struggling economically

with the levitated factories and parts of its towns and cities still looking war torn a growing number of people now wanted not only to travel abroad but to leave the country for good in hungary also part of the communist eastern bloc the border to austria was briefly opened in september 1909 and they willing thousands of east germans to flee to the west. it's. meanwhile thousands more were seeking refuge in the west german embassy in the czechoslovakia capital krog as communist regimes in eastern europe and the cold war itself appeared to be close to an end. but many stayed behind in the hope of bringing about change back home by voting with their feet in a different way the now legendary monday demonstrations in leipsic grew in size from one. week to the next but there were fears that this opposition would be

crushed the uprising by east germans in 1953 had been suppressed by soviet tanks. if the east germans wanted to do in the east germans debated this they called this the chinese solution. are we going to do our own chin and square but will it be unlike so they could roll in with tanks and put them down there at the hospital beds ready and they come to the russians they say we join us and support us if we start killing a lot of our people frankly the soviets no longer believed in that and i think it's to their everlast to everlasting credit of mikhail gorbachev and others that they no longer believed that their view were so sure they were right that they were willing to kill hundreds or thousands of people to impose their view of what was right on. they it was great statesmanship at

a very difficult time. on november 9th 1909 the berlin wall fell the ultimate symbol of german division and the cold war a momentous event celebrated by germans on either side of the border and on it. once again the eyes of the world were on berlin. the spark for change in communist eastern europe had come from poland in the early 1980 s. and now various regimes were succumbing to the calls for freedom. in december 1909 romanian dictator nicholas ceausescu was toppled in a popular revolution hungary saw a peaceful and successful uprising and in contrast to the prague spring of 1968 soviet troops did not intervene in czechoslovakia. but in moscow mikhail gorbachev himself was at risk of being removed by hardliners. we could always feared this danger i remember during the winter of 190-9991 of the conversations

with chancellor kohl we talked about the danger of what might happen if this if you know we thought it any time there could be a coup or an overthrow of power in the soviet union we began worrying about this in 1909 and even developed a secret planning group to work on this. and cole had a wonderful expression in this call he says it's like the farmer who needs to quickly gather in the hay before the storm. because the storm could come at any time and we knew that. sensing a desire among germans for reunification the west german leader was eager to seize a golden opportunity. although he needed the go ahead from the superpowers. in the immediate end of the cold war when i think helmut kohl who understood the yearnings of the german people called for leader for

a new goal and got the support of president george h.w. bush for that despite the fact that margaret thatcher and france for a minute or on may have had some 2nd thoughts i think it became inevitable i think the majority of the german people wanted to see it happen but where would a reunified germany stand between the cold war fronts helmut kohl began negotiations with gorbachev and promised to help with the problems his country was facing i'm seeing on february 10th 1990 cole was in moscow to give he was promised that if you provided generous help and support a united germany could be a part of nato and another to side with. the soviet union was a desperately poor. helmut kohl quarter donations of food to help the country heading into the winter of 1990 s. . and also to further the cause of german reunification.

in july 990 cole visited gorbachev in the latter's native caucasus region of southwestern russia. footage of the 2 men in casual clothing seemed a world away from the cold conflict that it pitted west against east for decades. to come is to keep news. that. is going on in iran steve roberts or frist. india either of them for it so can group b. if you're mr vishnu and from focus forward standing up to. just kind of dodged round so i sign a file or go sign of. when i just sort of in the teeth of trying to. con friday or inserts the child. oh very good is this.

on september 12th 1900 the 2 plus 4 agreements finally paved the way forward to german unification. the soviets would begin withdrawing their forces in east germany with helmut kohl pledging to cover the resulting costs. but he knew germany was prepared to accept our demand. we needed 14000000000 do it to build accommodation for the troops to be withdrawn from germany and other things. october 3rd 1900. after 4 decades of division germany celebrated its reunification. in berlin until then the pivotal heart of the cold war.

for germans the magnitude of the moment perhaps veiled the fact that the cold war was not yet over that the world was still full of nuclear missiles and now that too was the subject of negotiations. richard berke was among the dignitaries on the american side the last major battle of the cold war took place in a negotiating room in geneva. one of the secrets of negotiation of international negotiations like this is you're not just negotiating against the other side you're negotiating with your own capital. i mean everybody everybody back in washington was watching what i was doing and they were afraid i was going to give something away. the americans knew that their economy could cope with a potential lation of the arms race. but the soviet union could not a weakness that washington was able to exploit. the president told

me president said listen rick. you know you've got to be prepared if we can't get the kind of agreement we need you've got to be prepared to walk away and that's that's this is the message you got to send to the other side. and it was a message that was understood. the talks culminated in the biggest advance in disarmament since the start of the cold war the strategic arms reduction treaty or start limited the number of delivery systems and almost halved the number of nuclear warheads deployed by both sides. also in 1901 on march 31st the member states of the warsaw pact dissolve the alliance 36 years after it was founded soviet forces were subsequently withdrawn from the entire eastern bloc the collapse of the soviet union itself was now also

well underway. the baltic republics had already declared independence in 1900 and in december 1 19019 other members also ceded from the union and clue to russia the soviet union had been succeeded by the commonwealth of independent states you know they did send gifts in. the. cigarette see some of his own name so the user these human missile got its. yeah begin to show you so you didn't just not was too busy dealing there is a sense. on december 26th 1991. almost half a century after the allies had defeated and divided germany one of the victorious superpowers had itself become history. the soviet union had ceased to exist.

and its demise marked the end of the cold war. i don't like the expression we won the cold war because the soviets did it to themselves it was a it was not a regime it was a reach that could compete over time it was not a sustainable system sustainable spiritually. sustainable economically. and sustainable politically. that's not true then george bush sr that's what george bush sr had also said if we have one finally we're out of one but in moral terms as i would just stay on the minute we were they kept on repeating you've lost the cold war you'll no longer a major power of g.d.p. so shazam and don't interfere your opinion doesn't interest us any movement.

communism in eastern europe had reached the end of the line. so surely people hoped in the early 1990 s. that would also mean the end of the cold war. the superpowers began scrapping their tanks in a new giant leap for mankind. but 30 years on the saber rattling has resumed something or a new cold war between the old fellows. as both sides withdraw from old arms treaties. our relationship. has never been worse. than it is now. although germany at least has gone on to assume a new role and international affairs.

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news a live from berlin standing in solidarity people across france honor the well liked history teacher who was beheaded after discussing cartoons of the muslim prophet muhammad with his spots the prime minister. is among the crowd in parents' bolivians are casting their ballots for a new president on sunday amid a deeply divided political landscape the winner will have to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and bolivia's worst economic crisis in decades. and in the buddhist.