Gorbachev: Nuclear Deterrence Puts World 'in Constant Jeopardy'

Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, said the dangers of a nuclear deterrence policy are putting the world at risk.

Gorbachev made his comments in a column posted by The Wall Street Journal on Monday.

He said he was “convinced that nuclear deterrence, instead of protecting the world, is keeping it in constant jeopardy.”

“Yet nuclear weapons are like a rifle hanging on the wall in a play written and staged by a person unknown,” Gorbachev said. “We do not know the playwright’s intent. Nuclear weapons could go off because of a technical failure, human error or computer error. The last alarms me the most. Computer systems are now used everywhere. And how many times have computers and electronics failed — in aviation, in industry, in various control systems?"

He said nuclear weapons might “also be launched in response to a false alarm.” And he raised the possibility they could fall into the hands of terrorists.

Gorbachev maintained the 1962 missile crisis only was diffused by “the sobering up” of President John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union. He noted they “reached agreement on ending nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water.”

But he added: “Today, the U.S. and Russia are at a perilous crossroads. They must stop and think. The veterans of the Cold War have spoken. It is now up to our nations’ leaders to act.”

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