Word: baltic
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Baltic states dismissed Gorbachev's plea. Says Valery Chalidze, an exiled dissident and editor: "I think ((the Soviet leaders)) are very far from any clear ideas on what they want in any new constitution." Peter Reddaway, senior Soviet specialist at George Washington University, agrees: "I don't think Gorbachev has any realistic design for a particular type of federation. He is under so much pressure from so many problems that trying to devise something stable is really hopeless...
...meaning was perfectly evident to delegates from the rebellious Baltics. They refused to participate in the voting, arguing that because they will soon be independent they should not take part in creating new Soviet institutions. After the session, Gorbachev invited six Baltic delegates to his office to explain their position to him. He then told them he stood firmly on his plan to create a new federation and would stick to it in future negotiations with the Baltic states. Said Estonian journalist Tarmu Tammerk: "This was the first time he has admitted that Baltic independence is something we can legitimately...
Russians do not indicate that they are determined to hold on to the empire at all costs. Indeed, the costs of the empire, rather than its glory, seem uppermost in their minds. Both Gorbachev and Shevardnadze have assured President Bush that Moscow will not use force against the Baltic states. A senior Soviet diplomat says of the Baltics, "Of course they can choose independence. But the laws have to be observed, and they must keep in mind that they will have to pay a heavy economic price." In Paris last month, Gorbachev's adviser Andrei Grachev said if Lithuanians cannot...
Thus it is possible that the Baltic leaders racing so anxiously to independence are hurrying unnecessarily. Gorbachev could have entirely different crackdowns in mind as he gathers in his new powers to declare emergencies and maintains them "to defend the interests and security of the U.S.S.R." It is the decay of the center rather than the demands of the periphery that is most threatening to his reforms. His biggest immediate problem is likely to be the millions of Soviet citizens who are sick of communism, angry at the government, in despair at their living conditions -- and have no plans...
...existing worlds within the empire longs for nothing less than sovereignty. But the Soviet leadership is unable to shake its belief that a fundamental revision of our national system would result in anarchy and disintegration. In reality, the Kremlin is actually pushing the republics toward secession. The Baltic states have found themselves forced to move in that direction. This tendency could affect the other republics as well unless we come up with the only possible alternative to secession: sovereign and politically independent national states...