Word: gorbachevized
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
When plans were first made for Eduard Shevardnadze's trip to Washington, the aim was to prepare for the upcoming summit meeting between George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev. By the time the Soviet Foreign Minister arrived for three days of talks last week, the sessions had taken on far greater importance. In the wake of Gorbachev's campaign to thwart Lithuania's drive for independence, Shevardnadze's visit would be watched for signs of the damage done to U.S.-Soviet relations by Moscow's tough line -- and to gauge Bush Administration priorities in the era of waning superpower tensions...
Shevardnadze's trip was intended to give both sides a chance to make last- minute progress on major arms-control agreements that Bush and Gorbachev hoped to sign the next time they met. As it happened, the sessions also unveiled a new Soviet flexibility on Germany and Israel. But the most newsworthy outcome of Shevardnadze's three days of talks with Bush and Secretary of State James Baker was simply the announcement of a date for the summit -- several weeks earlier than Washington had anticipated. The announcement that the encounter would start on May 30 in Washington dispelled any question...
...than one. During Shevardnadze's five sessions with Baker, some serious snags appeared in the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START). Afterward, a senior Soviet official said it was "impractical" to assume that a pact limiting the most destructive portions of the superpower arsenal would be signed at the Bush-Gorbachev meeting. Nonetheless both U.S. and Soviet sides agreed that all the major issues involved -- if not the fine print -- would be resolved...
Even before those differences surfaced, George Bush was having trouble satisfying congressional critics who want firmer White House support for Lithuania, while at the same time avoiding any U.S. steps that might play into the hands of Mikhail Gorbachev's conservative opponents at home. Every time Gorbachev turns up the pain on Lithuania, Bush winces, and he had plenty of reason to grimace last week. As Soviet armored vehicles paraded through Vilnius, the capital, Moscow closed Lithuania's border with Poland and expelled Western reporters from the republic...
...they believe, Mikhail Gorbachev's political savoir-faire and the imminent collapse of communism will give them the money to further inflate the Great Society programs of the 1960s and 70s. They are convinced that anti-communist, anti-government conservatism has lost its appeal in the changing world...