Word: gorbachevized
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Rebirth of the Ukrainian churches may stir the sort of nationalist fervor that is inextricably linked with religion. Along with economic failure, this unrest poses the gravest of threats to Gorbachev's regime. Yet Gorbachev apparently calculates that the movement will be safer aboveground and in contact with a Pope who preaches against political violence. The major reason that Gorbachev has not done more for the Ukrainian Catholics has been pressure from the Russian Orthodoxy, which stands to lose half its flock in some regions...
Once the Ukrainian problem is resolved, assuming the Gorbachev-inspired liberalization continues, the Roman Pontiff can pursue his overarching vision of reunion with the whole of Eastern Orthodoxy. The churches of the East and West are like "two lungs of a single body," John Paul is fond of saying. Religious negotiations have made surprisingly brisk progress on the ecclesiastical and theological bases for union...
George Bush has often said he prefers "what works and what's real" to "airy" theorizing. Yet as he prepped for the toughest challenge in his diplomatic career, this weekend's meeting in Malta with Mikhail Gorbachev, there were tantalizing signs that the President was coming down with a case of "the vision thing." As he described his attitude toward the Saltwater Summit last week, "I'm thinking of it rather philosophically...
...Memphis aboard Air Force One on the day before Thanksgiving, he wondered aloud if the meeting might help guarantee "a peaceful future for kids all over," including his eleven grandchildren. Then, in a televised address that evening, the President struck what was for him a visionary tone. He invited Gorbachev to "work with me to bring down the last barriers to a new world of freedom. Let us move beyond containment and once and for all end the cold...
...pushing and pulling among allies will bolster Bush's wariness if Gorbachev delivers a surprise of the sort that caught Ronald Reagan off balance in Reykjavik. Much more likely are broader philosophical explorations of the future course of the superpower relationship and a series of small but still significant incremental steps on trade, chemical weapons and nuclear testing. But White House aides have been hinting for several weeks that Bush will not be going to Malta empty-handed. If past experience is any guide, Bush will not decide to play whatever cards he is carrying until he arrives in Malta...