Word: gorbachevized
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Given the stubbornly peaceful nature of the Balts' defiance, the next move is up to Moscow. The present face-off is untenable for President Mikhail Gorbachev, since it leaves him open to attack from old-line communists for not bringing the rebels to heel and from reformers for using force to halt nonviolent political activity. In addition, other potential defectors from the Union might begin to wonder whether Gorbachev's government lacks the will to carry through with military repression...
Such piecemeal "reform" has become the hallmark of Gorbachev's perestroika. In almost every sphere he has failed to be decisive or consistent in implementing reform plans. He has been unwilling to move fully into a free- market economy, preferring to tinker with the centralized planning machinery in hopes of making it more efficient. He has been willing to liberalize the political life of the country but not to allow any of its separatists to break away. He has alienated not only the separatists but also the traditionalists, who accuse him of "betrayal" for failing to completely carry through...
While he is reluctant to force out the Baltic governments because of the price he would pay abroad, Gorbachev has accepted the use of the military fist in an attempt to intimidate them. He is probably under pressure to go much further by the hardliners who now surround him: his original perestroika team has been replaced by a Vice President from the Communist Party hierarchy, a KGB man and a combat general at the Interior Ministry, and an unreconstructed cold warrior at the head...
Analysts wonder whether Gorbachev has lost his nerve or returned to his true roots. Says Yuri Shchekochikhin, a reform member of parliament: "He should understand that they have already made a dictator out of him. He has refused to put down the military-industrial complex, and his popularity has fallen throughout the country. He should make his final choice. Either he is an imperialist or a democrat...
...looking back at our entrance, ultimatum and offensive in the Gulf, that there are not "good reasons" to be have sent troops to war there. We can also say Gorbachev's actions are tyrannical and retrograde. Why must we choose between evils? In rejecting only one, we justify the other...