Many historians consider the meeting of the US President George H. W. Bush and the leader of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev in Malta on 2-3 December 1989 as the event, which marked the end of the Cold War. Three weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall the leaders of the two superpowers used the opportunity to announce the beginning of a new era. Gorbachev said this at the press conference: "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."
Bush was more cautious but still noted: "We can realize 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."
Years later, Gorbachev has recalled: “In summer-autumn of 1989 expectations poured over. One can say that from that summer onwards the mutual trust that had been built up grew into a new powerful force in world politics, which made possible the thorough transformation of the international scene.”
And Bush has said: “The world is a safer place now that the Cold War is over. No leader of a small country is worrying and saying to his cabinet: „One of these crazy superpowers is going to get us caught in a nuclear war“. That is not going to happen.”
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Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of Britain 1979-90: “Twenty years on, the world has changed, mostly for the better. Millions of people who once struggled under the oppression of communism live freer, more prosperous and happier lives. We have not created utopia: but then only communism thought that mankind could. There are still hardships. There are still dangers. But it is a world where more people are taking more decisions about their own lives than ever in our history. And that is something for us all to celebrate.”
Eduard Sheverdnadze, foreign minister of the USSR 1985-1990: "Those of us who experienced what I would call 'the fever of the Cold War,' the permanent state of alarm about the prospect of a nuclear war, we breathe more easily now. We no longer have to carry this heavy burden."
Carl Bildt, Prime Minister of Sweden 1991-1994: ''From a European perspective, it is of course obvious that the peaceful demise of the Soviet Union and its empire is one of the truly defining features of our time. /.../ In the wake of the uniquely peaceful implosion of the Soviet Empire, although the decade of rather painful wars of the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia and the Balkans should certainly not be forgotten, we Europeans are now engaged in a truly historic attempt to build a genuinely new order of peace and prosperity in our part of the world. A Europe whole and free, democratic and dynamic, united by the rule of the law, anchored in our common institutions.''
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At the time when the Eastern block was dissolving itself and the Cold War fading away, the future of the Soviet Union was still uncertain. In November 1989 the US intelligence agency CIA predicted that in the next two years the USSR would be unable to emerge from the deep crisis. The organization had serious doubts that the Baltic states would be able to break free: “While trying to avoid confrontation, the interests of the of the Baltic peoples and Moscow are bound to clash dramatically, leading to much harsher measures by the centre to regain control.”
Mauno Koivisto, the President of Finland, was also convinced that the Baltic states would not become independent. In September 1989, in a letter to President Bush, he thought the Baltic aspirations constituted a threat to world peace: “The Baltic peoples have succeed in wresting many, partly astonishing concessions from Moscow. Our fear is that they might at some point go too far and thus jeopardise not only the improvement of their own situation but also the ongoing process in the larger context.”
Even in January 1991 President Koivisto announced: “The present international situation is evidently not favourable for the independence aspirations of the Baltics. /..../ Voices calling for an end to support for the Soviet Union and Mikhail Gorbachev are clearly in conflict with our goals.”
Fortunately, the forecasts of the Finnish president proved wrong; supporting Gorbachev and the USSR was a misjudgment. In the same year, in 1991, the USSR exploded and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania could restore their independence.