Word: brezhnevs
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...states. Austria was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the end of postwar occupation, a glittering occasion that brought East and West together and provided the setting for the Muskie-Gromyko meeting. And this week, French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Soviet Communist Party Chief Leonid Brezhnev planned to get together for their very own summit. Said a senior Administration official: "This is the long-awaited Soviet peace offensive - with France as the Trojan horse...
News of the Brezhnev-Giscard parley, to be held in Poland with Polish Communist Leader Edward Gierek as host, surprised and confounded many Western diplomats. West German officials, perhaps piqued because Chancellor Helmut Schmidt had been upstaged by Giscard, regarded the summit as another Soviet at tempt to shatter Western solidarity. On the other hand, French officials maintained that Giscard was only following Charles de Gaulle's policy of trying to mediate between East and West. The focus of the summit was not disclosed in advance, but probable topics included NATO'S plans to deploy medium-range nuclear...
Listening impassively nearby was Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev, who commanded most attention among the visiting dignitaries. In a surprise move, Brezhnev decided to attend the funeral at the head of a phalanx of East European delegations. For the Soviets, Tito suddenly appeared to have attained a saintliness he had never enjoyed when alive...
Moscow had wasted no time in trying to get on the good side of the post-Tito government. On the eve of the funeral, Brezhnev and his Kremlin party sat down with Doronjski and Koliševski for what Tass, the Soviet news agency, called a "warm, comradely" meeting. China, which under Mao Tse-tung had long condemned Tito's "revisionism," similarly acted almost as though it had never differed with him. The first major head of government to arrive in Belgrade was Chairman Hua Guofeng, who grandly praised Tito for "great contributions to the proletarian revolution...
...distracted to engage in significant talks; moreover, it would not look good to American voters for the President to be flying overseas when he has barely begun to travel at home for the first time in six months. When Moscow announced at the last minute that Leonid Brezhnev would attend, it was too late for Carter to change course without looking even more indecisive...