ABSTRACT
Mikhail Gorbachev addressed the United Nations on 7 December 1988, the first time for a Soviet leader to do so since Nikita Khrushchev banged his shoe there. It was a world class event, reported by the press around the world. Not surprisingly, however, the Western press emphasized and largely reported only Gorbachev’s welcome announcement that the Soviet Union would unilaterally reduce its armed forces by about 10 per cent, especially in Europe. Moreover, Gorbachev had already taken several other important UN initiatives. In the age of nuclear bombs and terrorism, ‘the new political outlook calls for recognition of one more simple axiom: security is indivisible. It is either equal security for all or none at all’. Therefore, Gorbachev also excludes earlier and contemporary variants of balance of power limited to the few: ‘Everything was a great deal simpler many years ago.
