ah ah ah ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin. the last leader of the soviet union, mikhail gorbachev has died with a policy of openness and reforms. for petrov is widely credited for his war when helping to bring down the iron virgin and end. the cold war was coming up on the show. a 3rd of pakistan under water in the wake of

a monsoon on steroids. those are the words of the un secretary general describing the catastrophic flooding that has impacted tens of millions of people. and iraq cleric motto of thought or tells his followers and their protests after 30 di and clashes in baghdad. we'll look at what starks ah hello, i'm claire richardson. welcome to the show, mikhail gorbachev. the former soviet leader who helped bring the cold war to a peaceful conclusion, has died at the age of 91 after a long illness. with policies that promoted free speech and reform within the communist bloc. gorbachev's forged a new dialogue with the west, one that ultimately brought down the iron curtain that had divided europe since 1945 and put germany on track to re unification.

ah, mikhail gorbachev arrived and freedom followed. when he visited east berlin for the g d r's, 40th anniversary celebrations. gorbachev urged it shaneka to implement reforms. he warned the east german leader saying, life punishes those who come too late. a month after his visit, the berlin fell. and with the iron curtain that had divided europe for decades, it was gorbachev's reformers, policies that helped unleash a peaceful revolution across eastern europe. douglas, as yet he laid out his agenda in his 1st speech as leader of the soviet union. okay, so a stark contrast to what had gone before. we're also shoot for one year we had for you was the order, right, right. every piece and freedom is the most important basic right of action vigil

for our kilobit. gorbachev wanted to change the soviet union to bring it closer to the people. he promoted glass, massed openness, and perestroika reforms to words that will forever be associated with him. his new outlook was popular with many his policies also applied to the military, despite the resistance of soviet generals to us here we are for his honest, i'm convinced that we will also have to reform our military. but he, last, we have far too many weapons, law, stately, we have to seek dialogue with other superpowers and reduce our arsenals to a reasonable extent in the gift shop. as a result of that dialogue gorbachev, an u. s. president reagan signed the 1st of many disarmament treaties in 1987.

it was the beginning of the end of the cold war. in 1990 gorbachev was awarded the nobel peace prize for his key role in bringing about a new peaceful world order. internationally, he was highly regarded but at home he was increasingly under pressure. the economic situation was dire. the soviet union on the verge of falling apart, communist hardliners stage, a coup against gorbachev in 1091 and put the soviet leader under house arrest and his holiday retreat and crimea. one man stopped the boris yeltsin, the russian president gorbachev was allowed to return to moscow. but politically, he was ruined. he else in banned the communist party and publicly humiliated

gorbachev. you sell the yo yos your issue at all was shortly afterwards the soviet union was dissolved in december 1991 mikhail gorbachev announced his resignation. his attempts to regain political ground in the new russia failed. many russians held him responsible for the demise of the soviet union. but while his own country turned its back on him, gorbachev was hailed around the world as the man who helped her down the iron curtain and bring about a peaceful revolution. what eat wayne merry spent 26 years in the u. s. foreign service, including at the embassy in moscow at the end of the u. s. s. r. he spoke to me earlier about garbage hubs. legacy. i think at the moment, given what's going on in the war and ukraine, perhaps his greatest legacy is that he let the soviet union fail without spilling

a lot of blood to try to preserve it. now he did accountant, some bloodshed in lithuania, some in georgia. but when it really came to the question of, are you willing to use massive tours to preserve the communist party, to preserve your own power and to preserve the soviet union? he would not do it. and i think that legacy today is something that should be recognized as there are great many powerful figures in the world who are willing to use force to hold on to their power and to hold on to their political system. gorbachev ultimately, despite his personal commitment to the linen assistant, despite his personal belief in soviet communism, which i think continued right up through the remainder of his life. ultimately, he was not willing to scold at law. and i think in many ways, that's one of his great achievements and to we know what he thought about russia today, under president vladimir putin. we hear from people who have spoken with him and he

tended to be rather candid in his private remarks. i can say uh he was, he was appalled. i don't think we know what he thought about the current war because he's, he's been sick for quite a while. so i don't think we have any records from his thoughts about the war in, in ukraine. but certainly, i think he felt that the country was definitely going in the wrong direction in recent years under whose leadership remember that in many ways hootin and gorbachev both believed in russia as a debtor, chavo as a great state, and not just a great power, not it is an empire, but very much a great state. but gorbachev believed in a lenin este, great state. whereas putin, it made it very clear that he thought that leninism was what was really bad for the russian great state. but beyond that, i mean if you see the kinds of things that putin has done in the last couple years

for 5 years now, i don't think any of that would have been would've been agreeable to gorbachev could meet. you simply look at what he did in the last 5 years that he was that he was in office. i mean, he is somebody who not only won a nobel peace prize, he very much deserved an obese for ice. and for that, his legacy was bringing about the end of the cold war and the end of the nuclear balance of terror. now, he did that, at least in part because he wanted the resources to help preserve and perpetuate the soviet state. he was not trying to bring about the end of the soviet union. that's something very much for his. he also came to believe in an achieved but the legacy of bringing about the end of the cold war, particularly the nuclear balance of terror that i remember very, very vividly. i think he is one of the people who, whose achievement of

a nobel peace prize cannot be disputed in his legitimacy. former diplomat eat when mary, speaking to me earlier there. well, you and chief antonio, good tash has called for action to help pakistan cope with devastating floods. much of the country is submerged prompting the government and the he went to appeal for additional emergency. 8. the floods have killed more than a 1000 people and left millions homeless. as the rains finally ease the scale of the catastrophe becomes clear. the worst flooding in pakistan's history has left more than one 3rd of the country under water. satellite images revealed the sheer extent of the damage which pakistan's foreign minister has blamed on climate change. i want to emphasize here that the scale and magnitude of the current floods is unprecedented,

whereby the country received rainfall equivalent to 3 times the national a national 30 year average. this is a grave manifestation of climate change induced disaster. the devastating floods have forced more than half a 1000000 people to flee to dry ground. many now shelter in makeshift camps where supplies of food, medicine and clean water are running dangerously low. the un secretary general appealed to the international community for help. warning that the climate induced crisis poses a global challenge. pakistan is a washing suffering. the pakistani people are facing them on soon on steroids. the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding. let stop sleep walking towards the destruction of our planet by climate change to they. it is pakistan to

morrow, it could be your country. the un has cold for a $160000000.00 in international aid to help those most in need. but the pakistani government says it will need more than $10000000000.00 to recover and with more rain predicted in the coming weeks. that number is likely to rise. let's bring you up to speed now with some of the other stories making headlines at this hour. i had of november's mid term elections in the united states. president joe biden has traveled to the key battleground state of pennsylvania. there he demanded action on gun violence and called for a ban on assault weapons violence, warmer president. donald trump is also expected to hold a rally in the same city on, on saturday, the boy partisans. hundreds of people have taken to the streets of haiti to protest against crime and soaring consumer prices. 80 central bank says inflation, is that

a 10 year high? and fuel stocks are running low as importers struggle to be paid subsidies, that he prices blood and in cobble the taliban have been celebrating with fireworks the 1st anniversary of the withdrawal of u. s. troops from afghanistan. president joe biden face heavy criticism for a chaotic withdrawal that allowed the taliban to quickly seize control of the country. and now to iraq, where the president has called for early elections to settle a political crisis that turned into some of the deadliest violence. baghdad has seen in years earlier, shiite cleric mach tata al sadi called on his supporters to end their protests. and for a 2nd day of clashes with the army and rival shiite factions. early elections have been one of our daughters demands. at least 30 people have been killed. oh, burying the dead supporters of mo tata on saudi lay, their loved ones to rest,

killed in clashes with fellow iraqis, fellow shiites. the unrest only ended out to the powerful shiite cleric ordered his followers to pull back. well built with within 60 minutes, you turn to withdraw from the green zone and from the city outside parliament, i will even disavow when movement itself just minutes later, members of his militia began withdrawing and calm, was restored. a powerful demonstration of our father's influence. the unrest started after that firebrand cleric announced he was quitting politics in frustration over a political deadlock. he commands a militia with thousands of fighters, many of whom stormed the green zone in anger. the area of his home to the iraqi parliament on numerous international embassies. they traded shots with rival,

she ain't factions, and iraqi security forces, prompting the united nations to warn that the states very survival was at stake. the clashes, which is the latest escalation in a political crisis that's left iraq without a new government since elections last october. i'll sought his party, won the largest share of seats in parliament, but couldn't secure a majority because of a political infighting outside us as his she, i rivals are too close to iran. as the turmoil continues, many iraqis is struggling to put food on the table. you should have so and on that we only had to ask for a good life to ask for schools for our children with access to health care. we want dignity, mobile, jo, dot good are what the violence may be over. but the deep divisions remain with no clear way forward out of the crisis. and before we go, let's get a reminder of the top story we're following for you at this our former soviet

leader mikhail gorbachev has died. h 91 with policies that pro did free speech and reform within the communist bloc. or of a child forged a new dialogue with the west. it ultimately brought down the iron curtain and brought about german reunification that she was update at this hour coming up next a dock from looked at the war in afghanistan and its impact on us soldiers. stay tuned for that and don't forget there's always more on our website at that t, w dot com and clarity and info. and thank you so much for watching and imagine how many portion of love us heard out in the world. climate trade given kaufman stores. this is my pleasure, the way from just one week how much we can really do we still have time to work.