Thread: Gorvachev compares 700mile fence to Berlin Wall

http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cf ... 5626&rfi=6

Gorbachev compares proposed U.S. border wall to Berlin Wall
Bob Campbell
Staff Writer

Midland Reporter-Telegram
10/18/2006
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Former Soviet President visits Midland


Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev compared the United States' proposed 700-mile wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to the Berlin Wall during a Tuesday visit to Midland.


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[ Watch ] Mikhail Gorbachev video presentation at Midland College
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Addressing a Tuesday news conference at UTPB's Center for Energy and Economic Diversification, the JBS Public Leadership Institute Distinguished Lecture Series speaker was by turns serious and flippant prior to a reception with more than 100 people.


"You remember President Reagan standing in Berlin and saying, 'This wall should be torn down,'" said the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winner. "Now the United States seems to be building almost the Wall of China between itself and this other nation with which it has been associated for many decades and has had cooperation and interaction with.




"I think what is really needed are ideas and proposals about how to improve that cooperation and work out all of those issues regarding immigration flows. I don't think the U.S. is so weak and so much lacks confidence as not to be able to find a different solution.


"Maybe if global warming results in melting the ice in Greenland, there will be an island where those who would like to separate themselves from the rest of the world could live," he quipped. "But then of course we'll have to work this out with Denmark."


Gorbachev, 75, who lives in Moscow, said the Oct. 7 assassination of journalist Anna Politkovskaya bodes poorly for the advent of democracy in the Russian Federation. Noting she worked for a newspaper in which he is part owner, Novaya Gazeta, he said her unsolved shooting death in the apartment building where she lived was related to her work.


"I have known Anna for a long time," he said. "She was an excellent reporter and a wonderful woman -- very sensitive and responsive to whatever was happening in the country. Her main subjects were Chechnya and corruption.


"We all believe this murder was related to her work as a journalist. Not only did they kill Anna, but by doing so they dealt a heavy blow to democracy in our country. Not only her colleagues but the Russian public generally condemned this very strongly and that's why thousands of people came to her funeral."


Referring to the unsolved slayings of a dozen other Russian journalists in the past six years, Gorvachev said, "We don't know what the results of the investigation will be because in some similar cases, they were not able to find the murderers and those who supported the killings.


"President Putin has charged the prosecutor general to be in control of this investigation and I and the other shareholders have decided our investigative reporters will do their own investigation parallel to the official investigation.


"This tragedy shows our growth to freedom and democracy is a difficult road, but we need to go down that road to establish freedom and democracy as a permanent factor in Russian society."


Gorbachev criticized the U.S. and the current Bush administration for what he said is a lack of support. Comparing current conditions to those before the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, he said, "The political and social situation is difficult and the standard of living is worse for many people.


"As for economic, political and religious freedoms, we can say our country has pulled itself out of the past and is a free country. Unfortunately, there are some in the world who would not want Russia to move rapidly and stand on its feet and be a strong country, including quite a few people in this country and the administration.


"But this is something that is up to us and I'm sure we will move rapidly."


Gorbachev expressed concern with North Korea's Oct. 9 underground nuclear test but said the six-party diplomatic group formed in 2003 by the U.S., China, Japan, Russian Federation and North and South Korea should be able to address the situation. "I think that definitely they are behaving badly," he said.


"Now North Korea is saying it is ready to conduct another nuclear test, but the other five members have condemned those threats and there is some degree of unity."


Before Gorbachev's appearance to 5,000 spectators at the Chaparral Center at Midland College, the news conference and reception were secured by officers of the UTPB and city of Midland police departments and officers of the Texas Comptroller's Criminal Investigation Division.


Gorvachev's translator, Pavel Palazhchenko, asked upon leaving CEED if local newspapers would be available to read early this morning, when Gorbachev and his group would leave Midland after staying with Dr. Tulsi Singh.




©MyWestTexas.com 2006


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There is a difference here Govachev! The Berlin Wall denied people the right to leave.

I here China is building a fence and Saudi Arabia building a fence. What does he have to say about these countries. I think he's just trying to stick it to us, especially quoting President Reagan.

As far a peaceful, I think the invasion from Mexico and the rest of South America is hostile. Crime, fraud,social costs ect.. Let's round up all the illegals and send them to Russia. Then lets see what he has to say about putting up a fence!

Yea, it's just like the Berlin Wall Gorby in the fact it will be a BIG WALL.

Very different in the fact we will not have guard towers mowing down our own citizens if they try to run through the wire.

Nice try. Gorby.

I just lost all historical respect for you.

Like we should take advice from a man that lost his nation, flag, national anthem, and economy. What is Gorby now anyway, the floating ex head of a nation that no longer exists?

W

What ?!! Now we have Gorbechev telling us what to do !! Who's next ??
His Highness Prince Charles ??? What does he think about the fence ?!

We better get his opinion before we decide what to do with our own country, don't you think ?!

Maybe we should present it to all these experts and authorities over the American people differently.

Let's just tell them that we want to plant a pretty garden along our borders to make our country look pretty and warm and sweet and lovely.

Then we're going to build a big fence around the garden so nobody steps on the flowers !!

Perhaps we could work a reroute of the illegas to Gorvachev! Let's see, how long a tunnell would we need to dig

I here China is building a fence and Saudi Arabia building a fence. What does he have to say about these countries. I think he's just trying to stick it to us, especially quoting President Reagan.

A fence around the White House protects the President of the United States......a fence around Buckingham Palace protects the Queen of England........an Israeli fence separates Israel and the Gaza strip........... a fence separates Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Melilla on the southern coast of the Mediterranean sea.........a double barbed-wire fence separates much of South and North Korea (the small portion not fenced is heavily patroled)..........In northeastern Asia, the Amur River (called the Heliong Jiang in Chinese) separates Russia and China (if not for the water barrier, they would probably have a fence)..........Consulats throughout the world have security fencing. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Security fences and barriers have been around for a lot of years, but unfortunately they are quickly going out of vogue because they don't fit well into the globalization scenario.


Gorbechev needs a history lesson. The Berlin Wall was designed to keep people in. "Brain drain" was the biggest fear, East German leaders didn't want to lose their educated folks and technical experts. The East German citizens, on the other hand, wanted to escape the terrible conditions in their country and would risk everything to cross the Wall in search of a better life. The proposed U.S. border fence is built to keep people out, not in. The United States is trying to preserve the integrity of its borders and is using a wall to keep citizens who have no right to be here out of our country.

If Mexico built the wall, it would be more like the East German’s fence. As it is, the barrier is completely consistent with American values and a good faith attempt to maintain the integrity of our border.

The following article is a little old, but seems appropriate:

"Fences for everyone,
except U.S.

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Posted: November 17, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Have you noticed how many countries around the world are building security fences?

There is a near mania to build walls separating nations from neighbors who threaten them with illegal immigration, crime, poverty and terrorism.

Some of the largest countries in the world are building them. Some of the smallest countries in the world are building them. Some of the richest countries in the world are building them. And some of the poorest countries in the world are building them.

It seems security fences are for everyone – except the very richest, most powerful nation in the world.

Recently, for instance, Russian officials met with Israelis to learn about the much-maligned but highly effective security fence that separates the Jewish state from Palestinian communities in the West Bank. Russia is determined to build a security fence along its border with Chechnya because of the continuing terror threat it faces from that Islamic neighbor.

India, for instance is set to build a 2,500-mile-long fence along its border with Bangladesh. India has tried to reason with its neighbor. It has tried to quell the infusion of terrorists in other ways. Nothing has worked. So, no matter the cost, India is committed to building a security fence.

Egypt, which criticized Israel's decision to build a security fence, is building one of its own around the tourist hot-spot of Sharm el-Sheik. It seems Egypt wants to keep the terrorists away from the tourists.

Even the little kingdom of Brunei is building a security fence along its 20-kilometer border with Limbang – merely to stop the flow of smuggled goods.

There are hundreds of other security fences separating nations around the world. It's the rule rather than the exception.

Yet, for some reason, the United States is the exception.

We continue to find excuses not to build a security fence between the United States and Mexico – 2,000 miles of largely unpatrolled, maybe even unpatrollable, territory crossed by tens of thousands illegally daily.

Even after experiencing the worst terror attack in the history of the world, we didn't build it.

Even after watching at least 12 million immigrants walk across the southern border unmolested and take up permanent residency in the country illegally, we didn't build it.

Even after watching crimes perpetrated by illegal aliens skyrocket, we didn't build it.

Even after watching schools, hospitals and police taxed to the breaking point as a result of the invasion, we didn't build it.

After all this, and even long after most Americans have noticed the very character of their nation changing for the worse without debate and without a vote and despite the duly enacted laws on the books, we didn't build it.

Some say it would cost too much. The conservative estimate for the cost of the entire 2,000-mile stretch is $2 billion. On the high side the estimate is $8 billion.

To put that amount in perspective, understand that just last week, President Bush signed a $100 billion food and farm spending bill that covers only the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration and related agencies, for only a portion of the fiscal year that began Oct. 1."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=47445

[quote]Russia is determined to build a security fence along its border with Chechnya because of the continuing terror threat it faces from that Islamic neighbor.[quote]


What a hypocrit!!

I do not like Gorbachev . He destroyed the whole country and the only structure which was existing at that time without offering anything positive .
So many people died or got destroyed because of him .
The worst suffered the unprotected - the retired old people and children .
Can you imagine someone who was saving money out of the miserable salary all life , preparing for the time when the person cannot work .
And one morning - the money was devalued to the practical zero .
He is weak , destructive and mean .
Surely , prior to this event he secured his own money , stolen from people in foreign banks in dollars - so he can have a comfortable life - at the account of the lives of millions of people .
That is why there is a fear to have children , to keep savings in the banks , the tremendous waves of crimes - when people kill their relatives just to be able to have a tiny one-bedroom appt. to live in etc
What he did was a crime - I am not protecting the Communist regimen , but he broke it in one day - he ran away to his country-house in the Black Sea and "resigned" - truly there was nothing to resign from - the country , he was in charge of did not exist , as well as the party he was the head of - he broke his own chair he was sitting on / but he did not forget to steal and tranfer money abroad ....................nothing more to say - maybe except the lesson - never listen to someone like him