Bush alerts Gorbachev coup loomed – Ex Advisor to USAIDWASHINGTON — Former advisor to the US Agency for International Development Paolo von Schirach said the US government warned the last Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev in the summer of 1991 that a military plot was developing against him but he did not take the alert seriously. Bush did warn Mikhail Gorbachev about an impending coup against him back in the summer of 1991,” Schirach said. Of course, there was a strong US national security interest in warning Gorbachev,” Schirach recalled. The failed coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 15 appeared to be another example of a major US intelligence bungle, Schirach observed. Paolo von Schirach is president of the Global Policy Institute.

Source: Manila Bulletin August 23, 2016 03:11 UTC