Nezavisimaya Gazeta | Editorial | 9 November 2009
(Google Translation, with minor editing.)

The main lesson of the twentieth anniversary

The Berlin Wall is destroyed, but the dust from it has not settled yet

Today, 9 November, the capital of Germany celebrates a significant anniversary – the twentieth anniversary of the destruction of the Berlin Wall, which was the symbol of the Cold War, a symbol of division into two unequal parts of the German capital and the German State, and, most importantly, a symbol of years of implacable opposition of two political systems. And, of course, for Berliners, for the citizens of one country, Germany, for all, as was once said of progressive mankind the destruction of these characters – very big and happy holiday. The one that intentionally or unintentionally changed life not only in Germany itself.  What was so tiny atom, which caused a global chain reaction.

Following the destruction of the Berlin Wall the Warsaw Pact collapsed, as did the socialist system.  The Soviet Union ceased to exist. Soviet troops stationed in East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, were rapidly removed to their native land. From the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany only 500 thousand soldiers, 115 thousand pieces of equipment, including 4 thousand tanks, armored personnel carriers 11,5 thousand, 4 thousand guns and 2,5 million tons of materiel, returned. Property has been reviewed by DM 10,5 billion. Promises that President George W. Bush gave the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, that “NATO will not go to the East, not one meter, proved to be only words.

Countries that were part of the Warsaw Pact, became members of NATO. The organization accepted them and the former Soviet republics – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Candidate named Ukraine and Georgia. But the question remains, after all this, is world peace more durable? Alas, the answer, unfortunately, is ambiguous.

Just a month after the fall of the Berlin Wall, George H.W. Bush sent 26 thousand U.S. soldiers to Panama, thus showing that reliance on military force would determine U.S. policy. In the early 90′s of the last century began the first Gulf War; at the beginning of this century, the second. In between, with missile and bomb strikes, Yugoslavia has been divided. From Serbia chipped off 20% of its territory under the protectorate of NATO, a new state, Kosovo. Bush went out of the ABM Treaty of 1972, which was considered the cornerstone of the security of Russia and the United States, Moscow froze its participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center towers in New York, which led to the so far ongoing the war in Afghanistan, and U.S. spending on military purposes rose to 670 billion dollars … Then there was the war in South Ossetia.

Of course, that security in the world and even of each state over the past 20 years has not become more reliable, no fault of the Berlin Wall, no. With its destruction, the bipolar world ceased to exist, as did the fear of mutual nuclear destruction. But a unipolar world has shown its inconsistency. Obviously, the need to replace the relationship between the countries and their unions, requires a new system of security organization. Maybe only in Europe, and then extended. But for this to happen, we must take advantage of the experience, which was bought 20 years ago, when the country went from opposing camps to meet each other, knowing that their agreement with a partner, and a disregard for some not very significant differences, will go to benefit people . This is the main lesson that we presented a wall.