Word: gorbachev
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...Gorbachev complied -- sort of. On Friday he delivered a finger-wagging, lectern-thumping address that was long on promises, short on specifics. Yes, Gorbachev said, he planned "to get rid of outdated, clearly useless structures" in the government and to bring into it "politicians and experts who are more popular and enjoy the widest support." That sounded like a reference to Yeltsin, but Gorbachev coyly avoided giving any names and offered few details of what changes he really had in mind...
...after hearing successive speakers, including Yeltsin, agitate for resolute action, Gorbachev returned to the podium Saturday morning. In a brusque 15-minute speech, he proposed "an urgent, fundamental reorganization of executive power in the center by subordinating it to the President." Gorbachev called for vesting the Federation Council, an advisory body made up of republican heads of state, with broad powers to coordinate relations between the Kremlin and the republics. Citing a nationwide disintegration of law-and-order, he suggested creating both a Presidential Security Council to oversee law enforcement and an executive task force to combat organized crime...
...Gorbachev skirted many other issues. He called for "urgent measures" to end the worsening food shortages, but offered no new ideas. In his State of the Union address, Gorbachev merely defended the watered-down reform package that was passed in October and has since been not only derided but largely ignored. He implored the republics to stop reversing his economic decrees; in fact, he added, the Supreme Soviet should enact a moratorium on all independence-oriented legislation. But the idea that any such ban would be obeyed is so farfetched as to call into question whether Gorbachev understands...
...Gorbachev left legislators to speculate whether Yeltsin's influence in the new executive branch would be limited to his seat on the enhanced Federation Council or would include some greater form of power sharing. On Friday Yeltsin displayed little tolerance for waiting games. He followed Gorbachev to the podium and warned that the President "must stop making mistakes and clinging to the old system . . . the economic and political crisis in the country has come to a head, the people's patience is coming to an end, and an explosion could occur at any time...
...major question: since the 1922 constitution setting up the Soviet Union * would be dissolved, would republics be able to secede merely by refusing to sign the new treaty? Grigori Revenko, a member of Gorbachev's current Presidential Council, has suggested that the rebellious Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, at least, would not be allowed to go as easily as that; they would still have to negotiate with Moscow over property issues. And they might not be the only ones. Akaky Asatiani, a leader of the Georgian parliament, said flatly last week that Georgia "will not sign the federal...