Word: czechoslovakia
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...long twilight of Leonid Brezhnev's era and the infirm leadership in the Kremlin that followed, Eastern Europe was granted an unprecedented degree of latitude. Each country reacted differently to the chance to take some independent action. Hungary, for example, introduced many Western-style incentives for workers and managers. Czechoslovakia stagnated, though, and Poland lurched toward freedom until Moscow ordered a crackdown...
...Soviets have also been cracking down on the economic performance of their allies. Shoddy goods and late delivery of imports from the bloc are no longer acceptable. Shoes and other consumer goods from Hungary and Czechoslovakia have reportedly been turned back at the Soviet border in recent months. Gorbachev's energy policy toward his allies has been equally tough. Their main source of imported power is Soviet oil, but supplies have been cut back by as much as 30% in the past six years. At the same time, East European countries are forced to buy Soviet crude at two times...
Since the Soviet party congress in February, three East European countries have had their own meetings. At the first congress in Czechoslovakia last month, Gustav Husak, 73, signaled that no winds of change would be blowing through his regime anytime soon. Echoing Gorbachev, Husak inveighed against mismanagement, but his dominant theme was self-congratulation. Husak has maintained absolute control by offering a Communist version of a consumer society while stifling opposition with one of the most efficient police states in the Soviet bloc. Czechoslovakia's relative prosperity, however, has been bought at a punishing price: by starving industry of needed...
...Cuba. Did he lie? Probably. But he was forgiven because his untruth was within the bounds of diplomatic duplicity. He negotiated enthusiastically for an arms summit with Lyndon Johnson. The night before announcement of the summit, Dobrynin rushed to tell the President that Soviet troops were moving into Czechoslovakia. End of summit. Another deception? Of course, but again he charmed his way back to credibility...
...Czechoslovakia's Ivan Lendl, the men's top seed, played American John Sadri late last night in his first-round match...