Word: hungarians
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Andropov was, to Western experts, by far the most controversial of the contenders. Stern and serious behind his thick spectacles, he was the Ambassador to Budapest during the Soviet army's efficient repression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956. As head of the Committee for State Security (KGB) from 1967 to May 1982, he had also overseen the suppression of internal dissent. But at the same time, Andropov developed a reputation for pragmatism and sophistication, at least by Soviet standards...
...political commissar on the Finnish front during World War II, he worked in a series of party jobs, gradually gaining a reputation as an expert on Eastern Europe. As Moscow's Ambassador to Hungary, he played a key role in orchestrating the brutal Soviet suppression of the Hungarian revolution...
Later, Andropov is said to have supported Hungarian Party Chief Janos Kadar's liberalizing economic reforms. But according to Columbia University's Seweryn Bialer, he is scarcely likely to model the gigantic, centrally planned Soviet economy on the Hungarian system, which has abolished most planning and is heavily dependent on imports and exports. As a secretary of the Central Committee from 1962 to 1967, he was in charge of relations with the Communist bloc, traveling to Eastern Europe, Albania, Yugoslavia and Viet Nam. Says the University of California's George Breslauer: "He has tended to take a more tolerant view...
...Soviet Union now needs a strong man to take charge." Though Breslauer, like most Sovietologists, does not anticipate a wave of neo-Stalinism, he believes that Andropov could easily exploit the prevailing mood. "He has 15 years of experience in the KGB, and his role in helping crush the Hungarian uprising is seen as an accomplishment. Andropov seems to have the capacity for the kind of decisive leadership the Soviet Union is looking...
...principle: "You must lie to survive. But what is a lie?" The tale of the frogs keeps reappearing in new forms. Military Interpreter Grau tells it to some German war prisoners as a parable of how an arrogant team of jumping frogs lost at the Olympics. During the Hungarian revolt of 1956, finally, Grau becomes one of six Hungarians designated to negotiate with the Soviets, and instead of appealing for freedom, he argues that Hungary, like the frog, is too small and weak either to fight or to be independent. For this futile croak, the aged survivor is expelled from...