Word: blocs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Willy de Clercq, the chief E.C. negotiator, opposed phasing out all agricultural subsidies that give farmers in some countries an advantage over others in world markets. Nine million E.C. farmers, a politically powerful bloc whose livelihood depends on payments that enable E.C. stockpiling of products like beef, wine and milk, would be certain to oppose such a plan. By contrast, many U.S. farmers, who also rely on Government income supports, favor eliminating farm subsidies -- if foreign farmers follow suit. Reason: they believe U.S. agricultural productivity would give them an edge if competition were fair. Searching for a compromise, Yeutter...
...Gorbachev's gambit is also fraught with potential dangers for the U.S. The announced cuts are substantive enough to lure the West toward complacency, yet they are too small to dent significantly the advantages in men, materiel and geography that the Soviet bloc has over NATO. In addition, by once more dazzling the world with cleverly packaged and repackaged proposals, the self- assured Soviet leader displayed the seductive charms that could woo Western Europe into a neutered neutralism...
...praise was directed at Mikhail Gorbachev's promise to reduce, by 1991, Soviet troops and conventional armaments along the "central front" that divides West Germany and the East bloc nations. Western strategists have nervously watched that historic invasion corridor for four decades, knowing it is where a Soviet assault might come. "Gorbachev offers not just words but deeds," contended John Steinbruner, director of foreign policy studies at Washington's Brookings Institution. "It is now even harder to portray the Soviets as striving for the capability for a quick thrust into Europe...
...major points: 1) Gorbachev's reductions will bring the NATO and Warsaw Pact deployments in the collision-point region closer to, but still far from, a stable balance, and 2) the Soviet retrenchment will not diminish the Kremlin's ability to retain its military grip on its East bloc neighbors...
...Soviet tank divisions will be withdrawn from the same three East bloc countries and then disbanded...