Free Republic

Former Soviet president and Nobel laureate Mikhail Gorbachev spoke to a packed house at the Wortham Center on Thursday evening, offering up an hour-long talk covering the final years of the Cold War and the strained U.S.-Russian relationship that followed. Part of the Brilliant Lecture Series, the legendary statesman told the audience he was no stranger to Houston — home, of course, to president George H.W. Bush, who he called one his "best partners" in bringing down the Iron Curtain. The two leaders have remained close since departing office and rekindled their friendship Thursday afternoon at a private lunch with...

ROME – President Barack Obama's call for a nuclear weapons-free world is welcome, but the huge U.S. defense budget may prove an "insurmountable obstacle" to reaching that goal, former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev said Thursday. Talk of nuclear disarmament would be "just rhetorical" if other nations were asked to give up nukes while the United States maintains an overwhelming conventional military superiority, Gorbachev said. What's needed, he said, are talks to "demilitarize" world politics. Gorbachev, last leader of the now-defunct Soviet Union, helped inaugurate two days of discussions on nuclear disarmament involving some 100 former and current international leaders,...