MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/. Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev believes that relations among states must be governed not only by international law, but also by a code of conduct based on universal human morality, which will help avoid many crises.
"I am certain that it will be possible to overcome the paralysis of political will, which many politicians and civil society representatives are talking about a great deal these days, only on the basis of an ethical approach. Relations between states in the globalized world must be governed not only by international law but also by a certain code of conduct based on universal human morality," Gorbachev said in an article entitled To Understand Perestroika and Defend New Thinking, uploaded in Russia to the website of Russia in Global Affairs magazine on Monday.
The former Soviet leader believes that "these rules of conduct must envisage restraint, due regard for the interests of all sides, consultations and brokerage in case of an aggravation of the situation and the risk of a crisis."
"I am certain that many crises would have been avoided if only their immediate partakers and external forces, in particular, had been guided by such rules of conduct," Gorbachev believes.
As a historical example, he mentioned his visit to the United States in 1992, when the US leadership did not say a word about the US victory in the Cold War.
"But the US establishment has been unable to stick to this position. American politicians failed to stand the test of history, to match their historical responsibility," Gorbachev writes. "Instead of stating a common victory in the Cold War they decided to declare their own victory in the Cold War."
In his opinion, at that moment, there occurred "the disruption, the turn that predetermined so much in the further march of world events; it was also the root cause of the mistakes and failures that upset the basis of a new world policy."
"Triumphalism is a poor guide in politics. Apart from everything else it is also amoral," Gorbachev said. He stressed that his wish to "pair politics and morality" was one of the key principles of new thinking.