Gorbachev fears new Cold War over US missile shield: report

LONDON (AFP) — The United States risks starting a new Cold War by proposing to build a missile shield in central and eastern Europe, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev said in comments published here Wednesday. Washington claims that the anti-missile system for Poland and the Czech Republic is aimed exclusively at countering the threat from so-called "rogue states" like Iran, but Gorbachev said those assertions could not be trusted. Instead he said the military build-up -- plus the eastward expansion of NATO into Russia's traditional sphere of influence -- was aimed at containing a resurgent Russia, where Dmitry Medvedev is inaugurated as president Wednesday. "The United States cannot tolerate anyone acting independently," he told the Daily Telegraph in an interview conducted in Paris. "Every US president has to have a... [read full story]