if that happens in east or west germany, can you envision the warsaw pact and nato being dismantled? >> to reduce conventional armed forces in europe, as a result of these negotiations, which, i hope will come to an agreement in the next year, it is quite troops might be reduced in countries, including western countries. they have their troops here. >> have there been contacts between the united states government and your government in berlin or here regarding developments? what would you like the u.s. government to do? >> what we have done is no secret. havei told you that things been introduced only two weeks ago. presentations of deputy foreign ministers of affairs. minister met and thereng people was talk about what is going on in the gdr. being inntinuing contact and exchanging. ambassadors are never satisfied. i think we have done a lot. we could do more. >> do have any idea how long it will be before things settle back into what might be called normalcy? >> it will depend on the attitude of all the parties involved. what is going on will be parties soberly and all draw a reali

west and in the east. >> a last question, if i may. is it just geography that determines germany's central role in going between the east and west or something more, part of a sharped history with russia? >> it is certainly a more cultural perception that no one wants to see germany be an aggressor anymore, at least not in germany or that we could send troops to international conflicts would trigger a different discourse in germany. it's certainly a cultural misunderstanding and we have to address this and a day like this is a perfect moment to step back and think about why do we misunderstand each other. >> thank you very much. if there is not quite a new cold war, he says, there is certainly a new season as it were of cultural misunderstanding between east and west. >> all right, nine spicer in berlin, thank you. >> much more to come here on the aljazeera news hour including two americans released from north korea raising the question why now? >> they have survived war, butty syrian refugee kids in jordan are going hungry. >> in sport, find out if the decision makers in africa can save next year's league of nations. >> furious protestors h

lot of people thought what was going to happen is the german democratic problem, or east germany, as it was known in the westwould become a different state. but still around. no one imagined a unified germany, and less than a year after the berlin wall came down. that's why we have the big celebrations 25 years after the fact. one of the cool things i have seen around here, not only people around back then, but younger people who weren't around when the wall informs place celebrating the moment and grasp what that moment means nor us and our freedom today. >> what i found interesting watching that piece was there were a lot of people in east berlin who didn't want to leave to the west. to me, that's remarkable. but let's talk about this weekend. celebrations, 25 years since the end of the iron curtain. what celebrations do they have with former president gorbachev and angela merkel? >> merkel gave a speech yesterday in parliament. gorbachev is popular here. he's one of the most popular here. many in the east and the west know it was his policies and the fact that the soviet union troops, there were over 100,

or what i dold do, what our team would if something went wrong. handled byis being the west very well. certainly, you salute the people in east germany whose aspirations for freedom seem to be a little further down the road now. >> [indiscernible] >> no. no, i don't think anyone can resist it. that is one of the great things about diametric change in central america. it is moving in our direction. >> did you imagine anything like this happening? but ihave imagined it, can't say that i foresaw this development at this stage. i didn't foresee it, but imagining it? yes. we are talking about this kind of staying this kind with and living by the helsinki final act which gives the people rights. >> [indiscernible] >> i am just not to emotional guy. i am very pleased. whichk the united states, is not related to this development today, is being handled in a proper fashion. there will be some that will suggest more flamboyant courses of action for this country, and think, staying in close touch. as development takes place. fact that i am not bubbling good.i feel very >> [indiscernible] >> what i would like to think is the the political change

west this weekend. >> i'm a socialist. and i will stay here. but to go sometimes, it's good. >> reporter: whether they're socialists or not, people from throughout east germanyerlin for shopping or sightseeing trips. by friday evening some were already returning with bags of groceries, portable stereos, and other consumer goods. meanwhile, the line of cars heading west began backing up for blocks. some east berliners voiced the fear that the activism that opened these roads was now the being diluted by a wife of consumerism, a development they said could affect the future of the reform movement. at a rally later in the day 5,000 students demanded their own freedom to run their own academic lives while homemade signs read the success of the so-called happy revolution wasn't going to be measured in the number of shopping bags brought home. >> i'm afraid the possibility of traveling increases the chants, the negative chance that the opposition forces and the tdr lose their mass influence. >> of course after 28 years being jailed, at least in the sense of closed walls around, the most understandable thing what happened last weekend here. and i hope, i personally

or who grew up in east germany, angela merkel. >> the fall of the wall shows that dreams can come true. not all dreams. with gorbachev himself in berlin describing the west's tense relations with russia as a kind of new cold war. 25 years ago it was still all dream come true when the wall, like this line of balloons, came apart in a stunning instant. john donvan, abc news, washington. >> one of those moments you don't forget. i remember watching this on television. people carrying chunks of the wall away to save forever and commemorate that moment in history. >> now parts of that wall are all over the world. we have a section of it here in new york at the u.n. gives you chills. just being next to that wall. a huge chunk there. i didn't realize parts of the world all over, even at a men's room at a casino in las vegas. >> that's what they say. >>> the actual -- i didn't realize this. the whole wall, the complete wall did not come down until 1992. the physical demolition of the wall. >> what a moment 25 years ago. can you believe it? >>> how am i going to make the transition to nicki minaj from that? >> she tore it up. >> there you go. always tears it up. sh