New START for nuclear disarmament

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The Senate is Washington has approved a nuclear arms pact with Russia, handing President Obama a huge victory on his top foreign policy priority. The treaty requires the US and Russia to cut their deployed nuclear warheads by some 30%. The World’s Alex Gallafent takes a look back on the evolution of US – Russian diplomacy over nuclear weapons. Download MP3
FAQ New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty

Letters from Leningrad

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On Wednesday we ran a story remembering Samantha Smith, the 10-year-old American girl who wrote to Soviet leader Andropov in 1982, to ask why the US and the USSR could not live in peace. Our story brought a response from listener Jeff Henigson who himself had appealed to Soviet leader Gorbachev to ask for an end to the nuclear arms race. Marco Werman talks with Henigson. Download MP3

• Read Henigson’s comment
• Read some of Henigson’s letters
• Henigson’s website ‘Letters from Leningrad’
• Remembering Samantha Smith

The post-communist generation

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For some living in what was once the Eastern Bloc, the anniversary of bringing down the wall brings little cause for celebration. The last twenty years have brought freedom but also hardship and uncertainty – especially for the youngest generation who have grown up without Communism. Laura Lynch visited a high school in Budapest, Hungary. Download MP3

• Laura Lynch’s story on the first breach of the Iron Curtain in 1989
• Susan Stone reports how young Germans remember East Germany
• The World’s Gerry Hadden revisits the former East German border
• The World’s Alex Gallafent on owning a piece of the Berlin Wall

First breach in the Iron Curtain

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Before the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, Hungary tore down its barbed wire. Hungary’s prime minister didn’t ask permission in Moscow. He just told Soviet President Gorbachev it was a done deal. Hundreds would escape to the West in a single day. The World’s Laura Lynch went back to Western Hungary. Download MP3

• Hungary’s role in the 1989 revolutions
• 1989: Europe’s revolution
• The World’s Gerry Hadden revisits the former East German border
• The World’s Alex Gallafent on owning a piece of the Berlin Wall