A president's perspective: Gorbachev talks war and peace to a sell-out crowd

Sue Vorenberg | The New Mexican

4/14/2008 - 4/15/08

The small hotel conference room stage and wooden podium 5 feet from the front row seemed somehow unbefitting of such a prominent figure in world history as Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union.

Even journalists who waited at the Inn and Spa at Loretto weren't quite sure what to do as they pondered what to ask him. Talk of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall and Gen-X and baby boomer nightmares of a nuclear holocaust filled the air as reporters waited for Gorbachev, who was a respectable 15 minutes late for the half-hour conference.

They stood when he finally appeared and a few even clapped, unusual behavior for the generally jaded media, and cameras flashed.

The 77-year-old Gorbachev, looking almost the same as he did on TV in the 1980s, if a bit withered by age, wasn't sure where to stand until his translator motioned him up to the podium.

He very quickly said hello, then opened the floor immediately to questions, which mostly revolved around his impressions of global politics and conflicts.

Gorbachev, who led the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991, stressed the importance of world peace and the need to elect leaders who can get along more effectively than they do today. "I don't like it when negotiations become a fight," he said.

The former leader of millions seemed in his element, and extended his news conference by 15 minutes after a public relations person tried to usher him along to his next meeting.

Still, he wasn't easy on America as a whole. He criticized the American military machine, saying it sends a bad message to the rest of the world.

"It is my impression that America, judging by its military budget, seems to be almost at war with the world," Gorbachev said, later adding that the blame lies mostly at the feet of the government.

"I don't think the American people like going to war," he said.

The way to exert power is to work together with other countries, not to bash them over the head with the military, he added.

Only through countries working together can the world solve its military conflicts, epidemics, fights for resources, poverty and the global environmental crisis — those problems are just too big, Gorbachev said.

"We need planetary glasnost, global glasnost," he said, noting his call for openness in government in the 1980s.

"We still can do a great deal" to save the planet, he added.

After the conference, Gorbachev slumped in a chair in the inn's lobby for a cup of tea, as a few visitors from an online community business conference stopped, surprised, for a quick gawk at the former world leader.

"I was like holy ..." said Heather Stout, 33, a conference attendee from Austin, Texas, who was scrambling to grab her camera. "I had no idea he was coming here."

Jody Holtzman, 54, who came to the conference from New York, was a bit more composed.

"Somebody made a joke about inviting him to our reception," Holtzman said with a laugh. "I think he's an amazing man who left a mark on history that few others did. He changed the course of international relations in the 20th century."

Joan Gotterba, a tourist from California, said she only learned about Gorbachev's visit after seeing the marquee at the Lensic Performing Arts Center. She and her family noted Gorbachev's big black sport-utility vehicle as he headed from the inn to his $500-a-plate benefit dinner for the Santa Fe Institute and Global Green USA.

"When we saw the marquee, we didn't believe it was really him — I thought it was maybe an act," Gotterba said. "Then we saw the prices."

Later on, as he spoke to a packed crowd at the Lensic, Gorbachev still looked out of context on such a small stage.

Gov. Bill Richardson introduced him as "probably the most important figure in the 20th century," and as the man who ended communist rule.

During his speech, Gorbachev called for global nuclear disarmament and noted the West's bad behavior in claiming victory over the world after the end of the Cold War.

"I believe that we all lost in the Cold War," Gorbachev said. "We spent $10 trillion each on military spending. And we all won when the Cold War ended."

The idea that about one-third of the world's population lives in "decent" conditions while the rest does not is also deeply troubling, he said.

"Right now priorities in the world are distorted, they're skewed," he said, adding that it's time for "real, radical change" in the way countries work together through organizations like NATO and the United Nations.

Jon Wilkins, a professor at the Santa Fe Institute who watched the speech, said he was impressed by Gorbachev's willingness to criticize the U.S.

"It was certainly interesting that he came here and was calling out the audience and the country," Wilkins said. "I think that was good."

Wilkins' other comment, as a kid who grew up in the 1980s, was a little less serious. "The thing on his head looks a lot less like a hammer and sickle than all the cartoonists showed in the 1980s," he said.

David Schroder, 61, who drove down from Farmington for Gorbachev's speech, said he felt lucky to see such a prominent figure in world history.

"He brought communism down," Schroder said. "He changed the world. And here he is in Santa Fe."

And the former world leader also impressed Cole Chapman, a 14-year-old Santa Fe High School student, who wasn't even born when the Berlin Wall came down.

"He's a pretty cool guy," Chapman said. "He's pretty ahead of his time."

Contact Sue Vorenberg at 986-3072 or svorenberg@sfnewmexican.com.