Word: grained
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...saying, Carter angrily halts grain sales and postpones SALT in a series of retaliations against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan It was as though a time warp had plunged the world back into an earlier and more dangerous era. Soviet divisions had swarmed across the border of a neighboring country and turned it into a new satellite. Moscow and Washington were exchanging very angry words. Jimmy Carter accused Soviet Communist Party Chief Leonid Brezhnev of lying, and the Soviets' TASS press agency shot back that Carter's statements were "bellicose and wicked." For Carter, the rapid series of events...
Carter then announced that he was sharply cutting the sale to the Soviets of two kinds of goods they desperately need: grain and advanced technology. Contracts for 17 million tons of grain, worth $2 billion, are being canceled. Soviet fishing privileges in American waters are also being severely curtailed, as are new cultural exchange programs; Carter further hinted that the U.S. might boycott this summer's Moscow Olympics. To shore up Afghanistan's neighbors, Carter said that the U.S. "along with other countries will provide military equipment, food and other assistance" to help Pakistan defend its independence...
Perhaps the most difficult decision was that concerning a grain embargo. Such a move would represent the painful reversal of a policy, based in great part on his moral principles, that food should not be used as a weapon. Halting the enormous grain shipments to the U.S.S.R., moreover, could erode the President's political support among farmers...
President Carter's retaliatory measures will pinch but they are unlikely to punish the Soviet Union seriously.His principal move-the cutoff of grain sales-is a good show of short-term strength, yet its long-term value is arguable. Says Richard Kjeldsen, senior international economist for the Security Pacific National Bank: "I cannot think of a single unilateral embargo that has been effective. Nor can I think of an instance in the past when wheat-producing countries have actually got together to function in some concerted, cartel-like operation. An embargo on grain shipments is simply a very leaky...
...Carter Administration has been trying to persuade other wheat-exporting nations to cooperate with the embargo and not sell the Soviets the 17 million metric tons of grain eliminated by the U.S. So far, Canada and Australia have given "pretty firm" commitments to go along with the embargo, while Argentina is a question mark. Even if these nations do cooperate, the Soviets may still find other ways to get their grain. Says Verel Bailey, an Iowa corn grower: "The Russians are very effective in manipulating international pipeline supplies. It would not surprise me if a lot of grain starts heading...