Word: gorbachevized
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...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...
There is little chance that Gorbachev will choose this way out. Western Sovietologists read him as a leader dedicated to preserving his empire. It seems to them he has concluded that if he gives the Balts such an opening, the other rebellious republics will rush for it as well. And even if the President could bring himself to accept a little secession, the army and KGB would not. Now that he has been deserted by the reformers, he must rely on the men in uniform if he wants to stay in power. One of his advisers, Georgi Shakhnazarov, warned that...
...matter how much he must depend on the armed forces, Gorbachev will have to think carefully before turning to martial law in the republics that defy him. All 15 of the republics -- with giant Russia in the lead -- are in some ways loosening the ties that bind them to Moscow, and despite the pervasiveness of the security forces, it is not clear they could hold them all in check at the same time. "If they have to crack down in lots of places," says an analyst in Washington, "that could create a revolutionary situation." The Soviet people can still...
...Gorbachev's political genius so far has been his ability to swerve from left to right, to set things up so he is always the leader between the extremes, the man of moderation. He no doubt intends to continue that pattern by trying to balance the Baltics' demand for independence with the dark threat of violence from the reactionaries. In that effort, the most ominous question is whether there is any ground in the middle left for him to stand...
...Washington and Europe can do little to affect events inside the U.S.S.R. "The Soviets are sensitive to what is being said abroad," says a French official. "But frankly, we can't hope that what we do will cause Moscow to change its behavior." Moreover, some analysts advise that punishing Gorbachev for the blood spilled in Vilnius and Riga by withdrawing Western aid might undercut him and strengthen Soviet hard-liners. A U.S. official points out that almost all the aid Washington has pledged "will benefit the reformers and not the reactionaries...