Word: easterns
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...acquiescence of Mikhail Gorbachev--communism itself in April 1989. The largely peaceful transition seems to have influenced Gorbachev's approach to the other seceding East bloc nations and forever linked John Paul's name with communism's demise. Wrote the former Soviet leader in 1992: "Everything that happened in Eastern Europe in these last few years would have been impossible without the presence of the Pope and without the important role--including the political role--that he played on the world stage...
That inclination expressed itself early, in his suppression of liberation theology, a Marxist-tinged philosophy that attained popularity in the '70s among the Latin American poor. Critics wondered why the Pope would fan the flames of a people's struggle in Eastern Europe while dousing a similar movement elsewhere. The simple answer was that liberation theology smacked too much of communism. But as time went on, it became clear John Paul was equally offended by a broad spectrum of doctrinal creativity and criticism. He dismantled the Jesuit leadership, presumably because of its perceived leftist sympathies. (In its place of papal...
...lustrations currently sweeping Central and Eastern Europe first broke out in Slovakia, where late last year the government-sponsored Institute of National Memory (UPN) began publishing the names of some 10,000 alleged collaborators from the files of the former secret police, the StB. The final batch of names was released earlier this month. Among the accused is Archbishop Ján Sokol, 71, one of the country's three most senior prelates and an opponent of the communist regime. Yet according to StB records, Sokol agreed to collaborate with that regime just as it was collapsing in 1989. Sokol...
While plenty of women are still attracted to the sensuous belly-dance mystique--diaphanous veils, belts hung with coins, finger cymbals and exotic Middle Eastern music--there's a new fan base that sees nothing unusual about executing a hip drop or camel walk to the strains of 21st century techno music as long as it's a good workout. And there are a host of new belly-dance videos with titles like Cardio Shimmy and Pure Sweat to show how it's done. "What we're doing is creating physical movement that has nothing to do with having...
...craze, which began in the late 1990s, seems to have taken off in the wake of 9/11, when curiosity about Middle Eastern culture intensified. Belly-dance moves on music videos by Britney Spears and Shakira certainly propelled the movement. But what seems to be sustaining the trend now is Americans' never-ending search for ways to keep fit without getting injured--or bored...