Word: finlandized
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Actually, that should be Sankt-Peterburg, which is the Dutch name Peter the Great gave the city when he founded it in 1703 on a swamp on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Choosing a European version of his patron saint's name to underscore his cosmopolitan ambitions, Peter built the elegant port as a window to the West, intending to yank his fusty country toward the future. When the Russians went to war against Germany in 1914, the city's Teutonic appellation suddenly became politically incorrect. Emperor Nicholas II's solution was to Russify the name, making...
...Baltics, there is one he could use. He could identify them as a special case, republics that were kidnapped by Stalin, and allow their departure -- accompanied by treaties on defense and economic links that would make them in effect another Finland. He could then say to other potential secessionists that, as members of the Union forged by Lenin, they do not meet those conditions. By cutting his losses with the Baltics, Gorbachev might be able to draw a firmer line around the Soviet heartland...
...similar show of force two weeks ago, causing fear that presidential rule would soon follow. "This invasion," declared the parliament in Riga, "is only a pretext for starting a large-scale attack on the democratic institutions of Latvia." A contingent of Baltic lawmakers gathered for a regional conference in Finland went even further. Echoing the warning of Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze when he abruptly resigned in protest last month, they charged that Moscow's display of the iron fist signaled "the restoration of the power of dictatorship in the U.S.S.R...
...neutral Sweden and Finland, the groups were created without the governments' knowledge. In NATO countries Norway and Denmark, the units were built with official cooperation. But in addition, Colby revealed, the CIA secretly formed its own backup networks in both Norway and Denmark. Still unknown are how many of these organizations are alive today and what they may have been up to lately...
...question, she will have a tough time sidestepping it for much longer. Within the European Free Trade Association, to which Norway belongs, sentiment for joining the Community is accelerating fast. Last year Austria announced its intention to apply, and Sweden followed suit two weeks ago. Finland is seriously pondering the issue, and a pro-E.C. initiative is gaining ground in Switzerland, the most resolutely standoffish country in the EFTA. Although fears still run high in Norway that the country would lose independence and control of its natural resources, concern is mounting that if everyone else joins up, Oslo could...