Gorbachev delivers a historic speech at the United Nations in New York. George H.W. Bush has been president for a month. The USSR is burdened by unsustainable military spending. He writes in his memoirs: “Our military spending is 2.5 times that of the United States; only the underdeveloped countries spend more than us per capita […] Six million soldiers! To do what? We are cutting our best talent out of the economy!” The Soviet Prime Minister announces a unilateral reduction in conventional weapons.
