Word: ek
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...Alexander Dubček, it seemed to be a somewhat more pleasant journey to Moscow than his last one-when he went as a virtual prisoner of Soviet commanders who had invaded his country a few days earlier. Instead of being whisked secretly onto an airplane, Dubček last week chatted amiably in the Prague airport lounge with a group of his Czechoslovak colleagues. They had come to see Dubček, Premier Oldřich Cerník and Deputy Premier Gustav Husák off for another round of talks in the Kremlin. But throughout the pleasantries...
Though the Moscow meeting had been twice postponed by disagreement on the agenda, both sides had ample reason for wanting to hold it. In return for rolling back much of the liberalization of his early regime, Dubček is anxious for Russia to begin withdrawing most of the 275,000 Warsaw Pact troops still encamped on Czechoslovak soil. The Kremlin, on the other hand, is far from pleased with the pace of what the Russians call the "normalization" of Czechoslovak life. In particular, they resent the halfhearted censorship that permits most Czechoslovak news media to continue making subtle gibes...
...first glance, it seemed as if the Russians had gone a long way toward "normalizing" Czechoslovakia by rescinding most of the personal and political freedoms that had been granted during the heady liberal regime of Alexander Dubček. In fact, the plucky Czechoslovaks were using their wits and will to walk a shaky tightwire between overt compliance and covert resistance to Russia's goals. Last week, as Soviet soldiers settled into winter quarters outside Prague and other cities for what is likely to be a long occupation, it was plain that the Kremlin considered Czechoslovakia far from normalized...
Summons to Moscow. Most impatient of all, it seemed, was Communist Party Boss Leonid Brezhnev. Last week Brezhnev ordered Dubček to report to Moscow with his personal list of Czechoslovak "counter-revolutionaries"-for comparison with Brezhnev's own. Under pressure from Brezhnev and his Kremlin colleagues, Dubček accepted the resignation of Foreign Minister Jiři Hájek, who defiantly demanded withdrawal of Russian troops before the U.N. Security Council last month. He was the third reformer of ministerial rank to be sacked (Deputy Premier Ota Sik and Interior Minister Josef Pavel preceded...
Islands of Emptiness. The Kremlin spewed out its displeasure with the uncooperative Czechoslovaks in a Tass report that accused "people in high party positions" of deliberately "sabotaging 'the Moscow agreements." Dubček himself may well be at the top of the list. It has not escaped the Russians that he has managed to countervail the loss of many a reformer by sacking a pro-Moscow counterpart (last week's swap: Hájek for Communications Minister Karel Hoffman, who compliantly ordered radio and TV to go off the air shortly after the invasion began...