3 December 1989 – In a meeting off the coast of Malta, on board the Soviet cruise ship Maksim Gorkiy, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev release statements declaring and end to the Cold War between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

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  2. The Malta Summit was a meeting between US President George H. W. Bush and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, taking place on 2-3 December 1989, just a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

    News reports of the time referred to the Malta Summit as one of the most important since World War II, when British prime minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed on a post-war plan for Europe at the Yalta Conference.

    No agreements were signed at the Malta Summit. Its main purpose was to provide the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, with an opportunity to discuss the rapid changes taking place in Europe with the lifting of the Iron Curtain.

    The summit is viewed by many observers as *de facto* end of the Cold War. At a minimum, it marked the lessening of tensions that were the hallmark of that era and signaled a major turning point in East-West relations.

    Speaking at a joint news conference, the Soviet leader announced:

    >”The world is leaving one epoch and entering another. We are at the beginning of a long road to a lasting, peaceful era. The threat of force, mistrust, psychological and ideological struggle should all be things of the past.”
    >
    >”I assured the President of the United States that I will never start a hot war against the USA.”

    In reply, President Bush said:

    >”We can realise a lasting peace and transform the East-West relationship to one of enduring co-operation. That is the future that Chairman Gorbachev and I began right here in Malta.”

  3. Germany above all was lucky to have H.W Bush as US president

    The British, French and other European nations were against the reunification of Germany yet he pushed ahead. François Mitterrand traveled to East Germany to see if reunification could be blocked. Maggie Thatcher ordered a review of options to halt the reemergence of a unified Germany. Yet Bush worked with Kohl to get it done.

    Even Merkel said Without George H.W Bush I would not be here

    The best part was he even looked out for Gorbachev, he could have made a crazy patriotic speech to get political gains at home when Germany was reunited but he did not want Gorbachev to get in trouble by Soviet hardliners. That speaks volumes

  4. And, if I’m not mistaken, the meeting was particularly important for Romania, as Gorbachev promised not to prop in any way the declining incumbent dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.

  5. Gorby and Bush have a lot of similarities. Both were unsuccessful in internal politics. Bush was a one term president and Gorby could not stop USSR’s dissolution.

    In foreign policy, the entire world was lucky to have them. Eastern Europeans even more so. The breakup of USSR, regime change there and in Eastern Europe, rising nationalism there and even in the US could have led to open conflicts and even genocides from Berlin to the Far East. A kind of extended Iugoslav wars. Imagine having the idiot Putin instead of Gorby. He would attack and threaten everyone

  8. Yeah, I cant think of a more monumental moment in post WW2 history. Changed the lives of milions for the better.

    90ties in general can be arguably considered to be the „peak” of the so called Western world, and in more ways than one.

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