Word: curtained
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Many elderly voters never mastered the principle that they were supposed to walk into a booth, pull the curtain behind them and secretly cross out the names of those they opposed. Instead, they picked up their ballots and walked straight to the box, as was the practice in past elections. Another change was that the party did not try to drum up turnout. "What kind of election is this?" a baffled older woman complained at a Moscow poll. "Where is the music, and what happened to the buffet...
Sharp memories of the brutal past were jogged as well by a new play, Four Interrogations, the story of an old woman unfairly charged under Stalin as an "enemy of the people." Before the curtain rises, the audience sits in darkness while voices screech Stalinist slogans over a loudspeaker. Then an imposing photo of Stalin is projected onto a black curtain. Finally, a spotlight sweeps over the audience, stopping now and then to hold first one person, then another and another in its sudden white glare...
Banta regularly reports on the rigors of life behind the Iron Curtain, and much of his appreciation for such tribulations comes from his personal experience. Trains with no heat. Telephones often on the blink. Sources too scared of eavesdroppers to talk except in person -- and in private. Even getting into some countries can be a trial. After presenting his perfectly legal visa to the passport officer on entering Rumania, Banta was taken to the departure lounge for the next flight out. But the kindly officer did give Banta enough Rumanian lei to call the U.S. embassy to protest...
...since Stalin slammed down the Iron Curtain four decades ago has Europe witnessed such ferment east of the Elbe as that unleashed by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's campaign to reshape socialist politics and economics. In the past, when opposition escalated, the Kremlin dispatched tanks and troops to crush dissent. But since coming to power in 1985, Gorbachev himself has been the chief dissident, leading the assault on the status quo. Acknowledging that there is no "binding model" for socialism, he has encouraged pluri- Communism in Eastern Europe...
...since Stalin slammed down the Iron Curtain has the region experienced so much change. So far, Washington and its allies have been restrained in trying to turn events in Moscow's front yard to their advantage -- and they may keep it that way. -- British and U.S. officials acknowledge bomb alerts prior to Flight 103's ill-fated voyage. -- Peru lurches toward chaos...