US President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Theresa May and other world politicians lauded on Saturday the role of former US leader George H. W. Bush in global politics and his contribution to bringing the Cold War to an end.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st December, 2018) US President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Theresa May and other world politicians lauded on Saturday the role of former US leader George H. W. Bush in global politics and his contribution to bringing the Cold War to an end.Bush, who served as the 41st president of the United States from 1989 to 1993, died at the age of 94 on Friday.
"President George H. W. Bush led a long, successful and beautiful life. Whenever I was with him I saw his absolute joy for life and true pride in his family. His accomplishments were great from beginning to end. He was a truly wonderful man and will be missed by all!" Trump tweeted.
According to former US President Barack Obama, Bush was a patriot and a humble servant who "did tremendous good" in his service as the head of state.
"Reducing the scourge of nuclear weapons and building a broad international coalition to expel a dictator [former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein] from Kuwait. And when democratic revolutions bloomed across Eastern Europe, it was his steady, diplomatic hand that made possible an achievement once thought anything but ending the Cold War without firing a shot," Obama said in a statement.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that Bush was "a world leader, who strongly supported the alliance with Europe."
The UK prime minister called Bush "a true friend" to her country and a reliable counterpart of Margaret Thatcher and John Mayor, who chaired the UK cabinet during Bush's presidency.
"His statesmanship, wisdom and friendship will be much missed and today we send our deepest condolences to his family and to the American people," May tweeted.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas recalled in his statement Bush's significant contribution to the reunification of Germany.
"In 1989, at a watershed moment when the blocs were tested and their decades-long confrontation began to crumble, he bravely seized the opportunity to end the Cold War. He, too, is an architect of German unity. He supported it without reservation from the very beginning - and that we shall never forget," Maas said, as quoted by the ministry.
"Bush will be remembered as one of the architects of the post-Cold War era," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said.
UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Emir of Kuwait Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent their condolences to Bush's family, local media reported.
Kosovo leader Hashim Thaci wrote on his Facebook that his country would always remember Bush's role in Kosovo's independence.
"Kosovo and the Albanians will remember him as the first president who made it clear for the regime [of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic] in the beginning of the 1990s that Kosovo for the United States was the line that was not to be crossed. Our condolences to the Bush family and the American people," Thacic said.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev highlighted Bush's contribution to the development of the Russian-US relations and said that Russia would always honor him as an outstanding man.
Bush was born on June 12, 1924 in Massachusetts. He studied at Phillips academy Andover boarding school and enlisted in the US Navy at the age of 18. Bush received a Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery when fighting on the Pacific front of the World War II.
After the war, Bush graduated from Yale university and started his path as a politician. In his early political career, Bush served as the US ambassador to the United Nations, the US envoy to China and the chief of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Bush lost the 1980 presidential campaign and occupied the position of the vice president in 1981-1989 with Ronald Reagan as the head of state.
In 1988, Bush beat Michael Dukakis in the nationwide presidential election.
In 1989, Bush held a summit with then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Malta marking the demise of the Cold War and two years later the two leaders signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
