gorbachev called him up on the government will collapse within two weeks for the reason gorbachev did that is bush called on his own without anyone asking him to call your friend appear and tell him to get off the stick and open the port up or else. gorbachev did it. there was no famine. there is no famine. the foreign ministry or the state department call gorbachev directly to do it. and then the point is there's a lot of stuff that happened. it's not even in the book yet. >> me switch gears on both of you. i'm starting to take some questions that have been submitted to us. this comes from tom and washington university tomas a good question, did president bush have any regrets about any of his major foreign policy decisions after he left the presidency? so both of you not only served him, but continue to be friends of his. any regrets? any second thoughts on the decision? is not in the white house very much. he was upset with what was happening in afghanistan. we weren't really able to create a climate where they have institutions of government that would not be subjected to the tali

he called gorbachev directly, and gorbachev called him directly, and then we got isaiah working off the stick, and he capitulated. the point is, there's a lot of stuff that happened. it's not even in the book yet. >> let me switch gears on both of you. i'm starting to take some questions that have been submitted to us. this one comes from tom parker of the george washington university. tom asked the question, good question, did president bush have any regrets about any of his major foreign policy decisions after he left the presidency? so both of you, not only served him, but continued to be friends of his. anything, any regrets? any second thoughts on his decisions? >> i'll let andy. he was there in the white house. i was not in the white house very much. >> well, first, he was upset with what was happening in afghanistan and we weren't really able to create a climate where they could be -- have institutions of government that wouldn't be subjected to the taliban's influence, if you will. but i don't think -- and the world was second guessing his decision not to go to baghdad after we

and president mikhail gorbachev announced his resignation. the soviet union, united by a communist ideology, existed for almost 70 years. but towards the end relations between its republics had become practitioners. and the liberalizing policy of perestroika did little to stabilize the situation. the union was replaced by 15 independent states among russia, and as the new borders sprung up, around 25000000 ethnic russians found themselves cut off from the land. many unable to get naturalized in the other republics and moving to russia, wasn't easy either. when one of those people is nina, should grow now 65 living in catholic stone. now she was born in soviet lithuania and grew up in russia. maybe moved with her aunt and son, catholic song, just months before the say the eaten collapse. and she was left stateless for almost 3 decades. only getting a cause a passport a few months ago. i mean, it says it's too little to life. it says to me or stella said no, i lost my whole family. my parents died young and then i lost 2 of my brothers in 1991.

as a staunch socialist, she was also an outspoken critic of mikhail gorbachev. seeing his actions as the cause of the units collapsed. now in the late sixty's or martha was still in active politics, serving his chair of russia's peace and even the party on his dollar quarter got to meet her and the doff by so serious back then in the huge soviet union or any person created work to leave and believed that tomorrow would be better. and in fact, it was to day, we see what a beautiful planet we had. we looked abroad and it seemed that all the democracy, all the beauty was there. we wanted to be like them. although the culture, beauty and morality, which was in the soviet union wasn't in any other country, i don't want to offend anyone. but this is a fact. the great soviet union was the 2nd world power in most respects. although in some it was ahead of the united states, this country did not need to be rebuilt. it needed to be improved and moved forward . we strongly opposed gorbachev on his policy of perestroika, how to go, which often ruined the country. i can go t

of course then president mikhail gorbachev, announcing his resignation. now the u. s. s. are united by that of a communist ideology. it existed for nearly 70 years. however, relations between its republics had become a bit rocky, with the liberalizing policy of perestroika doing pretty little to stabilize the situation. of the union, of course, replaced by 15 newly formed states among them, russia, of course, and some of those now form that of the commonwealth of independent states. while here at r t, we hit the streets of the russian capital to ask people 30 years on how they felt about the collapse of the soviet union. i me downside is that we lost territory. we could not restrain the urge of certain nations to get into band and say it was inevitable that it was going to happen anyway. but little soon period when an empire is collapsing is always bad because something being united. so from what recommends you to a lot of smaller pieces, and it always ends up in war because everyone starts to have their own ambitions. there's a lot of war and anger and beats as well live

we strongly opposed gorbachev on his policy of perestroika. how to go, which often ruined the country where you've got, what you of gorbachev came to destroy the country. i was sure of that when people asked him the question, what is perestroika? he himself could not explain it. and so a man came and destroyed the country from the inside from the top of your throng, very much known. the gum in the market economy was one of the main aspects of perestroika. you think it was a mistake to replace the planned economy with the markets one yet those muslims cause i have to tell you, it wasn't the market economy. of course, capitalism is basically terrible system. capitalism assumes only a bunch of people can own the wealth of the country. the world is and the market economy. if it had been introduced as the ussr planned, it would have been wonderful. it would be a welfare state. whether we like it or not, the whole world will come to this because capitalism has outlived its usefulness. capitalism, as lennon said ill always pregnant with was, was atta

of course with then president mikhail gorbachev announcing his resignation. now the ussr united of course by that of the communist ideology, it existed for nearly 7 decades. however, relations between its republic to become a bit rocky with the liberalizing policy of perestroika doing little to stabilize the situation of the union. what ultimately replaced by 15, newly formed members among them. russia, of course. and some of these now form the commonwealth of independent states. well, here at our team we decided to hit the streets of the russian capital to, to speak with people about how they felt about the collapse of the soviet union 30 years ago. i me downside is that the last territory we could not restrain the urge of certain nations to gain independence. here it was inevitable that it was going to happen anyway. but little soon period when an empire is collapsing, it's always bad because something big and united fragments into a lot of smaller pieces and, and always ends up in war because everyone's does have their own ambitions on which was to look wa

by the time mikhail gorbachev became communist party leader in 1985, the economy was weak and led to industrial strikes and military tanks, taking over red square to challenge his role. a crew was attempted, but president boris yeltsin, let a successful campaign against it. in 1991. gorbachev resigned and the red flag was lowered over the kremlin as the russian flag was raised. samuel romani is a tutor and specialist on russian foreign policy. the university of oxford, he says, mikhail gorbachev reforms were the most far reaching and many have been reversed. since putin overshoot legacy initially all to the jet transition towards an attempted democracy, the transition towards a free market privatization, the easing of cold war tensions was followed by an improvement of us russia relations intermittently over the next 15 years. but now under vladimir hooton's leadership, we've seen the exact reverse luciana, torturing consolidation. we've seen di, status companies taking over private enterprises and even more importantly, you seen a return to systemic confrontation between russia and

he says gorbachev's reforms were the most far reaching and many have been reversed. since putin overshoot legacy initially all to the jet transition towards an attempted democracy, the transition doors of free market privatization, the easing of cold war tensions was followed by an improvement of us russia relations intermittently over the next 15 years. but now under vladimir hooton's leadership, we've seen the exact reverse luciana, torturing consolidation. we've seen di stayed on companies taking over private enterprises. and even more importantly, you seen a return to systemic confrontation between russia and the last that was arguably sharper than it wasn't ranking. it is the former soviet republics when a multiple different trajectory sound like the baltic states is sonia lothian. lithuania were able to enter the european union were able sions, dition towards market economies were able to develop dynamic, innovative, private sectors. if those that were presented by corruption, others like bella roost, largely stayed the same as the, as always has done with mino

the late '80s, andrew sack rav teamed up with then soviet president mikheil gorbachev. the goal, document the truth about soviet repression and collect the memories of millions of people who were marched to their death and forced to work in soviet gulags, a history that memorial says today's russia is trying to erase. >> all the branches of memorial were very active opposing the te attempts of authorities to forget about the repressions of soviet. >> reporter: this documents today's political prisoners including alexei navalny labeled the equivalent of al quaida. >> russia is mott a safe place now. we have seen the list of former governors or political leaders who have been recently arrested and these numbers are growing. >> reporter: memorial human rights tracks the unprecedented crackdown on russian civil society and media and itself expects to be shut down by the same court tomorrow. >> it sends a very clear signal to the other human rights organizations that they should be somehow more careful with what they say or what kind of compains they are one running and, of

with president mikhail gorbachev . announcing his resignation. the assault united by the communist ideology, existed for almost 70 years. however, relations between his republics have become rocky, the liberalizing policy of perestroika doing little to stabilize things. the union was replaced by 50 newly formed states among them, russia. some of these states now form the commonwealth of independent states. yes, people in moscow, how they felt about the collapse of the soviet union. melissa, the downside is that the last territory, we could not restrain the urge of certain nations to gain independence. it was inevitable. it was going to happen anyway. but little soon period when an empire is collapsing, it's always bad because something big and united fragments into a lot of smaller pieces and always ends up in war because everyone starts to have own ambitions. there's a lot of war and anger as well lived together. we could travel to all our republics now at silver. you cannot go so easily with flu on a financial level in terms of our basics. wife

bush and baker used this moment with gorbachev when saddam invaded kuwait. there was an example of the u.s. and soviet union condemning the move in a joint statement and working together in the un security council. remember, gorbachev was almost toppled in a hard-line coup and the soviet union unraveled in the period when jim m baker turned to middle east peacemaking. it would have been with a reduced post-soviet russia that it would have been possible to re-order the middle east in a more lasting way. in some ways george h w bush was politically vulnerable. gorbachev was enormously vulnerable and was practically toppled by a hard-line coup. giving away more in the middle east would have only accelerated that process by which the hardliners sought to end his rule over the soviet union. >> a couple of points. knew that he was speaking for nixon. when john kerry spoke it was quite clear he was not necessarily doing so for the president of the united states at the time. when he tried after the historic trip to jerusalem to try to get the parties together before

gorbachev first replaced karmal with a new leader, mohammad najibullah, the hated former head of thece. he also agreed to peace talks. the united nations peace talks in geneva began in 1986, aiming to end the war. americans wanted mujahideen involvement. the soviets insisted the communist afghan government remain. the soviets insisted on supporting the afghan communists, which was then president najibullah, and they said they would continue supporting with food and weapons. so the americans had turned around and said, if you're going to do that, we're going to continue supporting the afghan mujahideen. so, ok, you leave and the afghan mujahideen and the afghan communists will continue fighting each other, this was essentially it. so geneva didn't bring peace, there was no illusion about that. geneva was not going to bring peace. it was only a cover basically for the soviets to leave. on february 15th, 1989, the last soviet troops left afghanistan. the soviets left behind them a country devastated. they had lost 15,000 men, but one million afghans had been killed and over four million

but by the time mikaela gorbachev's became communist party. later in 1985, the economy was wake. it led to industrial strikes and military tanks, taking over a red square to challenge his rule. a current was attempted by president boris yeltsin led a successful campaign against it. in 1991, colbert chang resigned, and the red flag was lowered over the kremlin. as the russian flag was raised to bring us some analysis on me, let's bring in samuel romani, who's a shooter and specialist on the russian foreign policy at oxford university. he joined us via skype. hello there, samuel, thanks for being on this news our. what do you go? whichever resignation, symbolize all those decades ago? some historians, this is a true pat question. some historians believe it could have actually held on teens position and safety u. s. s. to agree? well, i think that by the time 991 and rolled around the soviet union's position as basely untenable the majority of soviet republics at arctic regions seed. the soviet union was undergoing the huge economic crisis including hyperinflation. and the united st

but she does understand that with gorbachev he potentially has a partner who could work with him on this and was absolutely relentless and pushing for this cabinet. over the reservations with these hardliners and her husband's own administration as caspar weinberger says one of the world histories she really had a lot more willingness to trust the soviets and a lot more because she had a lot of faith in her husband's ability as a negotiator. revealing the diagnosis with alzheimer's you talk about nancy and barking on the final chapter of their story and write even her harshest critics would acknowledge the grace and determination she would show when her devotion was put to its greatest test. she would gain a new appreciation never again would anyone doubt that she had fixed on her ronnie for all those years was anything but genuine. she would become one of the most admired women in the country. i think a lot of us watched the way she cared for him as the sort of ultimate expression of their marriage vows and devotion. share a little bit more about that chapter and how difficult it was fo

and he spoken about schultz and but could you tell us about about how ronald reagan it and gorbachev where the right man for the moment and how nancy reagan work behind the scenes. >> first of all, i don't think it was strategic heart that she talks about this, there were a number of things and one is that she wanted her husband it to going down in history as a great president and as a peacemaker and sherry really believed that this was his role. and it also made political since that even people who lofgren the live reagan were afraidd that perhaps he was a little too quick on the trigger which she also understood something that many people did not know about ronald reagan which was that along with his harsh cold war anti-communist rhetoric, there's some idealism is a believer in it the primacy of armageddon and that he was enough and the ideal is to envision a world without lenuclear weapons. there was something she understood about him that not a lot of people dead at the time. and this is truly of marriage it so the two of them would have it the arguments where she would turn on h

something that the americans really assured me call gorbachev in 1990 was not happened. indeed. then american secretary of state james baker said to go, but joseph quote, not one inch 8th, 2 baths. alas, the naive, incompetent food that gorbachev was never demand. it'll be americans that they put back in writing. now turn into the criminal and demands they all the demands for any self respecting country would make, namely, about nato puts into rights in the clenches in rights. and that it will not admit ukraine, georgia into its ranks. and secondly, that nato will withdraw its forces from the russian order. now, nature is actually obliged to by the nato, russia found in act 19. 97 to not have its forces in eastern europe and also in the baltic states. which brings me on to another point. so even if nato was to put into writing what the kremlin is demanding it, a pledge by nitro, or really or in writing is actually worthless. because firstly, nato has, as well as i already said, has violated the nato. russia found an act by decision in its forces in the baltic states in eastern e

with president mikhail gorbachev. announcing his resignation. the ursa saw you not to for the communist ideology, existed for almost 70 years. but relations between the republics they become rocky . the liberalizing policy for destroying, doing little to stabilize things. the union was replaced by 15, uniform states among them, russia. some of these now for the commonwealth of independent states where people in moscow are they felt about the collapse of the soviet union versa. the downside is that the last territory would not restrain the urge of sudden nations to gain independence. it was inevitable. it was going to happen anyway. but little soon period when an empire is collapsing, it's always bad because something big and united for i commence into a lot of smaller pieces. and it always ends up in war because everyone starts to have their own ambitions. so there's a lot of war and anger. when i swell, lived together, we could travel to all our republics now at silver. you can not go so easily with lou on a financial level in terms of our basi

in the event american secretary of state james baker said to gorbachev, quote, not one inch eastward, but alas, the naive, incompetent fool that gorbachev was never demanded of the americans that they put back in to rights in now turn into the kremlin demands. they all the demands for any self respecting country would make, namely, a ride in the clenches in rights, and that it will not admit ukraine moved over ga, into its ranks. and secondly, that nato will withdraw its forces from the russian border. now, nature is actually obliged by the nato. russia found an act 1997 to not have its forces in eastern europe and also in the baltic states. which brings me on to another point. even if nato was to put into writing what the kremlin is demanding of it, a pledge by night, so formally or in writing is actually worthless. because firstly, nature has, as well as i already said, has violated the nato russia found in act by decision. it is in the baltic states in eastern europe, and secondly, nature violated its own found in treaty in 1991 when it on the federal republic of yugoslavia. specif

i was 1st set up using some funds provided by form, appraising behind gorbachev's another piece. price laurie. it is published articles, critical, a own subjects, ranging from corruption, the lease violence electoral fraud, and the use of russian military forces, both within and outside of russia. the newspapers, opponents have responded with harris meant violence, and murder al jazeera is bernard smith visited nor via gazette. his office is in moscow. let's take a look at his report. dmitri murat of has led no via gazette for much of the nearly 30 years. the newspaper has been published well. 2 2 2 the daily editorial meeting each as looks and sounds like many others held in newsrooms around the world. but in today's russia, this free exchange of ideas and opinions is unusual. where it once competed in a crowded independent media field, no via gazette, is now one of the few outlets that doesn't follow the line of vladimir putin is government. just are just the girl nicholas the social with the candidate, the so much legislation were forced to consider like mentioning any organiz

a great example of that is ronald reagan meeting with gorbachev in reykjavik.opponent of what the soviet union was involved in. and yet gorbachev and ronald reagan came to an agreement where we took 50,000 nuclear warheads pointing at each other and turned that around. and now we have about 1,500 each. and we have mechanisms in place to try to guarantee they won't be used. so you can work with countries with whom you have grave differences. even while ukraine was happening under the 0bama administration, i was working very closely with foreign minister lavrov and we worked to get chemical weapons out of syria. we worked on the iran nuclear agreement, the paris agreement, we worked on environmental issues like making the ross sea the largest marine protected area in the world. so we found a way to agree. and that's what diplomacy is about. war is the failure of diplomacy. diplomacy solves those problems under the most exigent circumstances and that's what we have to do now. let's turn the microscope inward to the united states for a moment and talk about the cre

i'm president, we call gorbachev, announced his resignation of the soviet union, united by a communist ideology, existed for almost 70 years, but towards the end relations between us republics had become practice and the liberalizing policy of perestroika did little to stabilize the situation. the union was paced by 15 independent states among them, russia, and as the new border sprung up, around 25000000 ethnic russians found themselves cut off from their homeland. many were unable to get naturalized in the other republics and moving to rochelle. this was easy about time. now one of those people is mina chico now 65 living in target stone. she was born and so the way now and grew up in russia. nina moved with her aunt and aunt context on just months before the soviet union collapsed. as she was last stainless with 3 decades only guessing a cause, a passport a few months ago, something she says is too little too late. is this, you mija? stella said no, i lost my whole family. my parents died young and then i lost 2 of my brothers in 1991. i went to live with my aunt and kara gander. i

the gorbachev was working on to france, one to reform the soviet union inside. and also to reform its relations with the capitalist world. and he tried his efforts there failed because of the inability of the united states in russia. the union then russia to, to come to terms we'll say that see in the pay say that space, the number of conflicts on whether that's nicole and a car back from touch cheapest on to for example, k cost on is pakistan team. do you think that we would have seen those kinds of disputes if the ussr had remained a whole the biggest loss i think of all in terms of. busy relations human relations. ready was the breakdown of their been rather narrow to tell you waited the but the feeling of community community policy that existed within the soviet union, that local level that is lost. and i think everybody knows as results of the disintegration at the beginning of the and the soviet union, that there was a real hope for a confederate world confederation. and that failed immediately after that initial period after going to charles reform stale.

, somebody wrote in the q&a, gorbachev himself refused to this several years ago. fabricating the idea that the u.s. is about to put hypersonic missiles or tomahawk missiles in ukraine, when nato has announced it is not putting new missiles anywhere even in response to the russian violation of the inf treaty. that should be revisited. he will cook up whatever fabrications he needs to convince his own people that it is not russia's fault. i don't think this is going to be convincing to the international community. >> ambassador, you praised the biden administration for handling the crisis capably. since the video call on the seventh, putin has not de-escalate it. his demands on nato have grown and he got a meeting with the u.s. without de-escalating. is biden blowing it? >> i praised the initial response, during the press conference, tony blinken, in the middle of november, where we laid out the three things we would do if moscow invaded. meaning major major sanctions, military arms to ukraine and putting more nato forces in the eastern allies, the balkan states and