Cold War Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Thaw in relations=== {{Further|Reykjavík Summit|Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty|START I|Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany}} [[File:Bush Gorba P15623-25A.jpg|thumb|left|The beginning of the 1990s brought a thaw in relations between the superpowers.]] In response to the Kremlin's military and [[concession (politics)|political concessions]], Reagan agreed to renew talks on economic issues and the scaling-back of the arms race.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005|pp=229–230}} The first [[Geneva Summit (1985)|summit]] was held in November 1985 in [[Geneva]], [[Switzerland]].{{sfn|Gaddis|2005|pp=229–230}} At one stage the two men, accompanied only by an interpreter, agreed in principle to reduce each country's nuclear arsenal by 50 percent.<ref>BBC News 1985</ref>{{citation not found}} A [[Reykjavík Summit|second summit]] was held in October 1986 in [[Reykjavík]], [[Iceland]]. Talks went well until the focus shifted to Reagan's proposed [[Strategic Defense Initiative]] (SDI), which Gorbachev wanted to be eliminated. Reagan refused.{{sfn|New York Times|1988}} The negotiations failed, but the third summit ([[Washington Summit (1987)]], 8–10 December 1987) led to a breakthrough with the signing of the [[Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty]] (INF). The INF treaty eliminated all nuclear-armed, ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between {{convert|500|and|5,500|km|mi|sp=us}} and their infrastructure.{{sfn|Federation of American Scientists}} [[File:President Ronald Reagan making his Berlin Wall speech.jpg|thumb|"[[Tear down this wall!]]" speech: Reagan speaking in front of the [[Brandenburg Gate]], 12 June 1987]] During 1988, it became apparent to the Soviets that oil and gas subsidies, along with the cost of maintaining massive troops levels, represented a substantial economic drain.{{sfn|Shearman|1995|p=76}} In addition, the security advantage of [[Central Europe|a buffer zone]] was recognised as irrelevant and the Soviets [[Sinatra Doctrine|officially declared]] that they would no longer intervene in the affairs of [[Warsaw Pact|satellite states]] in Central and Eastern Europe.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005|p=248}} [[George H. W. Bush]] and Gorbachev met at the [[Moscow Summit (1988)|Moscow Summit]] in May 1988 and the [[Governors Island Summit]] in December 1988. In 1989, [[Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan|Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan]] without achieving their objectives.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005|pp=235–236}} Later that year, the [[Fall of the Berlin Wall|Berlin Wall]], the [[Inner German border#Fall of the inner German border|Inner German border]] and the [[Iron Curtain#Fall of the Iron Curtain|Iron Curtain]] fell. On 3 December 1989, Gorbachev and Bush declared the Cold War over at the [[Malta Summit]]. In February 1990, Gorbachev agreed with the US-proposed [[Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany]] and signed it on 12 September 1990, paving the way for the [[German reunification]].{{sfn|Shearman|1995|p=76}} When the Berlin Wall came down, Gorbachev's "[[Common European Home]]" concept began to take shape.{{sfn|European Navigator|1989}}{{sfn|BBC|1989}} The two former adversaries were partners in the [[Gulf War]] against [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraq]] (August 1990 – February 1991).{{sfn|Newman|1993|p=41}} During the final summit in Moscow in July 1991, Gorbachev and Bush signed the [[START I]] arms control treaty.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005|p=255}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page