Word: blocs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...while the twelve-man guardian council is constitutionally the state's supreme decision-making body, the Imam is without question the ultimate authority on everything from religious doctrine to the conduct of the war against Iraq. "He is more powerful than the Shah ever was," says an East bloc diplomat. "He sits very close to God in the eyes of most people...
...lack of specifics, both sides pronounced themselves satisfied with the summit, and Reagan and Gorbachev toasted peace, their staffs and each other farewell with a glass of champagne. Before heading off to brief the heads of the Soviets' East bloc satellites, assembled in Prague, Gorbachev managed to get in a few parting propaganda points at an unusual 1½-hour press conference. He sternly warned that "all restraint will be blown to the winds" in nuclear competition unless the U.S. pulls back from its antimissile defense efforts...
...trench-coated cadre kept watch on the summit press center's bulletin boards, which displayed the latest dispatches from the government news agency TASS. Declared Boris Tchakarov, correspondent for the Sofia daily Zemedelsko Zname (Agrarian Banner): "I want to see how TASS is writing about events." In the East bloc news game, not only do you get no extra points for scooping the big guys, you might lose some...
Hungary's 11 million people have long been the envy of the East bloc for their cautious success at replacing at least part of a Soviet-style centralized economy with profit-oriented agriculture cooperatives and carefully administered oases of free enterprise. Along Budapest's glittering Vaci Street, the shelves of well-kept stores and boutiques are stuffed with Western videocassette recorders, luxury clothing and high-tech kitchen appliances. The nearby food markets display long racks of sausage and ham, mounds of fresh winter vegetables and ubiquitous garlands of crimson paprikas. Says a member of Hungary's new economic gentry...
...fallen about 6% as inflation, currently running at 10% annually, has eaten into the purchasing power of stagnating wages. The slowdown exposes the limitations of Hungary's miracle. The economy remains dominated by state-owned companies that still look disturbingly similar to the ossified factories of its East bloc neighbors. Productivity is woefully low. Says Economist Berend: "Sometimes it seems that we have ended up with the worst of a planned economy and the worst of a market...