Word: east
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Krenz, who had long been expected to succeed his mentor, will get no honeymoon, since the change at the top does not alter the crisis down below. Given Krenz's hard-line convictions, there is little expectation that he will be the leader who will guide East Germany along the path toward social and economic reform. Krenz may turn out to be only a transitional figure, put in place, like the Soviet Union's Konstantin Chernenko, to warm the chair for a more visionary thinker. "The real reformers will take over power in the next six to twelve months," predicts...
...Politburo. He is also among the members most widely distrusted and reviled by citizens. Rumors circulate about both his drinking and his health. "This man is a technician of power, a man of the central party machine," said Fred Oldenburg, a senior analyst with the Federal Institute for East European and International Studies in Cologne. East Germans mockingly call Krenz a "professional youth" because he has continued to dabble in youth affairs despite his age, organizing and attending rock concerts that are intended to pacify restless youngsters. A West German television crew, interviewing East Germans at random...
Krenz may face resistance within ruling circles as well. One source who has good Soviet connections and contacts within East European diplomatic circles said, "Krenz is engaged in a deep power struggle because some of the district party bosses were against him. The Central Committee was not unanimously for him." Still, Krenz is regarded by the other 20 members of the Politburo as the best they have to offer. Krenz, who is more animated and garrulous than Honecker, is also better attuned to the television age. He ordered up a camera crew to record his exit from the Central Committee...
...said. While Krenz acknowledged that "problems in recent months had not been sufficiently assessed," he stated that the party would maintain firm control. "Socialism," he said, "is not negotiable." His only conciliatory gesture was a hint that travel restrictions might be relaxed. At the same time, he encouraged East Germans to stay home, and admitted that the flight of 135,000 citizens this year was "a draining of a lifeblood" that amounted to "a human, political and economic loss...
...brunt of the ban will fall on the Far East. Hong Kong's traders have a 700-ton ivory stockpile that they will be unable to sell anywhere except within that colony. Japan, which has consumed about 40% of all ivory in recent years, abstained from the vote at Lausanne. Japanese officials say they intend to honor the prohibition...