Gorbachev: Trump, Putin Need to Align as ‘World Preparing for War’ (Source newsmax.com)

Aggressive talk from politicians and military leaders worldwide — amped up by media and the “bellicose chorus” of TV commentary — has former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev saying: “It all looks as if the world is preparing for war.” “The nuclear threat once again seems real,” Gorbachev wrote Thursday in a Time magazine op-ed. “Relations between the great powers have been going from bad to worse for several years now. The advocates for arms build-up and the military-industrial complex are rubbing their hands. “We must break out of this situation. We need to resume political dialogue aiming at joint decisions and joint action.” Gorbachev harkened back to the 1980s and his work with the United States to decommission and destroy 80 percent of nuclear weapons amassed during the Cold War. “In November 1985, at the first summit in Geneva, the leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States declared: Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” Gorbachev wrote. “Our two nations will not seek military superiority. This statement was met with a sigh of relief worldwide.” President Donald Trump had tweeted some of the tough talk Gorbachev was referring to. “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes,” his December tweet read. Trump, after his inauguration in mid-January, then said he might offer to end sanctions against Russia in lieu of a nuclear arms reduction.