Recently, NewsMax.com conducted an interview with Mikhail Gorbachev, Gorbachev : Reagan Was Great President, Peace Partner, for it's special edition to mark Reagan's 100th birthday. Gorbachev told of their first meeting that ended with him calling Reagan a "dinosaur" and Reagan referring to him as a "diehard Bolshevik." However, he remembers how after that first meeting, they developed a great respect for each other and worked together to accomplish great things.Gorbachev stated that they both agreed that a nuclear war would be bad for everyone - there would be no winner. Therefore, it should never be fought. He also said that he believes they could have accomplished even more, possibly ridding the world of nuclear weapons completely, except for one sticking point. The Russians were not comfortable with Reagan's "Star Wars" Program, also known as The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), and wanted it gone. SDI was a missile defense system which would use both space and ground based systems to shoot down enemy nuclear missiles. Reagan insisted on the U.S. keeping it. Gorbachev dubbed it Reagan's "pet project." Despite their disagreement on that issue, Gorbachev said, "We must pay tribute to President Reagan; to Ronald Reagan he was a great man. While I'm alive, I'm proud of what we did together."
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