Nations in Eastern Europe but thats a kind of a narrative that is very western i suppose but i lived there it was i dont have that same kind of feel for it ok though having said that im very glad those communist regimes are gone and the wall go ahead john. You know well like you peter i lived through those events very directly like you i was studying Eastern European studies at oxford at that point i spent that summer in 1909 in romania and in hungary and indeed in september 89 i was in west berlin and was there when the 1st east berlin as arrived in west berlin having driven through czechoslovakia hungry austria and and the whole of germany so i have a very strong memory of it as well i would make 2 points the 1st is that none of it would have happened without gorbachev decision to pull the rug on the Eastern European communist regimes that was decision he took in june and which he announced to the german chancellor helmut kohl at the time and all the events that we remember now the j
Us in. The midst of a steve im not of the opinion that nato is bring to it i still believe in International Cooperation as i buy it especially because we are facing ever larger and more International Challenges at all is to get to president i agree with the chancellor merkel nato is strong. United States North America and europe we do more to get it under done for decades we have implemented the strongest reinforcement so to look to the fence instead of the cold war. Also coming up a bronze statue of former u. S. President Ronald Reagan will be unveiled here in berlin tomorrow a statue to commemorate those words that he delivered before the wall came down. Cared this wall was at. Viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and all around the world welcome we begin the day with a warning that the spirit of unity that the world witnessed in 1909 is now endangered by division in 2019 today the words of french president emmanuel mccrone published in the economist fell like a bomb on the heads
Communist regimes are gone and the wall go ahead john. You know well like you peter i lived through those events very directly like you i was studying Eastern European studies at oxford at that point i spent that summer in 1909 in romania and hungry and indeed in september 89 i was in west berlin and was there when the 1st east berlin is arrived in west berlin having driven through czechoslovakia hungry austria and the whole of germany so i have a very strong memory of it as well i would make 2 points the 1st is that none of it would have happened without gorbachev decision to pull the rug on the Eastern European communist regimes that was decision he took in june and which he announced to the german chancellor helmut kohl at the time and all the events that we remember now the jangling of keys in Wenceslas Square in prague the torch is the candlelight the songs and so on all that was nothing but operetta it was political operetta it was froth. On the on the on the tidal wave of histor
And tom brokaw former nbc news anchor who reported from berlin at the time. Other speakers include former speechwriter for president reagan peter robinson. We talked about the internal debate in adding the famous mr. Gorbachev tear down that wall line to the speech. This is just over two hours. [silence] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome former abc news anchor Sam Donaldson. [applause] thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this mornings program. There are dates that all of us have a very personal. There are dates that we have as a country that we all share. In my lifetime december 7, 1941 november 22, 1953, 911, these are three terrible dates of the country. Then there is november 9 1989 good news, the fall of the berlin wall. Presaging the end of the soviet union. Its a subject that we are going to discuss today. How did it happen . What are the consequences . Who did this . Who for a look at whats in store for us this morning its a pleasure to welcome andrew card. Who served
Andrew follow will be here with you next hour to take you through all the latest news from around the world and stay with us for crosstalk next here on our international. Hello and welcome to cross talk were all things are considered im Peter Lavelle 30 years ago the berlin wall fell the cold war had essentially come to an end the fall of the cold war symbol was heralded as a new spring of nations and the end of communism decades on what is the legacy of this historic event the promises of 1989 been fulfilled. Crosstalk in the fall of the berlin wall im joined by my guest John Laughlin in paris he is a political scientist and historian in washington we have harold james hes a professor of history and International Affairs at Princeton University as well as author and editor of a number of books including when the wall came down reactions to german unification and in cork we cross to Geoffrey Roberts he is emeritus professor of history at University College cork and a member of the Roya