Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 5, 1990 TAG: 9006050348
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The New York Times and The Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Medium
"Alliances have been built on a selective and in fact discriminatory basis," Gorbachev said in a speech at Stanford University, referring to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Warsaw Pact, which arose from the Cold War.
"They were based on setting countries against each other," he said. "They divided countries and peoples much more than they united them."
Rather than strengthening defense, he asserted, alliances should be designed to foster an international unity that would "protect the environment, combat hunger, diseases, drug addiction and ignorance."
Gorbachev seemed to be underlining once more his insistence that NATO should be supplanted by a new pan-European security organization.
The West contends that a unified Germany should belong to a redesigned NATO.
Neither side budged from its stand during three days of detailed talks between Gorbachev and President Bush last week.
"The Cold War is now behind us," Gorbachev told 1,700 students, teachers and administrators in Stanford's Memorial Auditorium. "Let us not wrangle over who won it."
He appealed, in a state that is heavily dependent on military contracts, for the demilitarization of the Soviet and American economies.
Gorbachev sped back to San Francisco for a late lunch with business leaders, including computer makers and the manufacturer of Levi's, a status symbol among Soviet young people.
Soviet officials said they hoped the meeting would produce investments to help their economy.
After meeting with South Korean President Roh Tae-woo Monday night, Gorbachev said the two nations would establish diplomatic relations.
It was the first meeting between leaders of the two countries.
Gorbachev left the United States after the meeting.
Although he and Bush failed to resolve their differences over the place of a reunified Germany in a restructured Europe, or to settle their dispute over Lithuania, Gorbachev took home a package of major agreements, including a trade deal that he had avidly sought, as well as what he termed a "qualitatively different relationship" with Bush.
President Bush said Monday that key allies share his upbeat assessment of his summit with Gorbachev, but the White House acknowledged that bridging differences on Germany would require a long, step-by-step process.
by CNB