Word: andropov
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Somber in tone and menacing in content, that announcement by Soviet Leader Yuri Andropov last week was far from unexpected...
Nonetheless, it marked a watershed of ominous dimensions for both the Soviet Union and the 16-member NATO alliance. Andropov's 1,500-word statement, delivered by the official Soviet news agency TASS, meant that Moscow had finally acknowledged the failure of its extended campaign to prevent the deployment by the U.S. and its allies of new Pershing II and cruise missiles in Western Europe. As a result of NATO's resolve, a long and frustrating interlude in the convoluted drama of the nuclear arms race was over. But by the same token, a door had swung open...
...Tuesday came a surprise. During a 35-minute session, by far the shortest of the two years of talking, Chief Soviet Delegate Kvitsinsky agreed to hold another session at the neobaroque Soviet mission two days later. Then he offered what amounted to a revision of Andropov's Oct. 26 ultimatum. According to Kvitsinsky, the threatened "consequences" of NATO missile deployment would occur with the arrival "on the continent of Europe" of "short-flight-time" systems on the periphery of the Soviet Union. His statement implied that collapse of the talks would occur only after West Germany had acquired...
...took Khrushchev and Brezhnev some time to acquire the great power they finally did exercise when they were well entrenched in their positions. Andropov has had only a year, and it certainly appears that he is not in good health. So I would say we are seeing a form of transition...
...seriously should we take Andropov's warning that events have "finally dispelled" any chance for improved relations...