Word: kgb
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Andropov's compatriots barely had time to form much of an impression of their leader?not, at least, in his latest role. They knew him well enough as chief of the dreaded KGB for 15 years and as a man accustomed to having his own way. Whatever misgivings they might have had about him, after watching Brezhnev's painful, protracted decline, many had hoped that Andropov, at 69, would project an image of strength and vigor. But soon after taking office, he too displayed the telltale signs of serious illness and completely disappeared from public view for his final...
...impressed by his performance at a joint session of the Senate and House of Commons foreign affairs committee. Responding to tough questions about Soviet arms policy, the Middle East and human rights, Gorbachev presented official Soviet positions calmly and succinctly. He responded testily only when he was asked about KGB activities abroad. The notion that the Soviet Union was exporting revolution, said Gorbachev, was "nonsense, fit for the speech of uneducated people...
...late Yuri V. Andropov headed the KGB, true enough. To see this as sufficient cause for a graveside jig, however, is to prove oneself blind to the glaring irony of this new diplomatic development. Reagan sent Bush because he would not stoop to any act, regardless of its diplomatic or humane merits, that might further detente's evil cause. But Bush is far more than a mere executive flunkie. We should all remember, now more than ever, that George Bush ran the Central Intelligence Agency...
...KGB and Andropov were tools of vicious repression, again true. Our government is quick to supply us with examples of Soviet ruthlessness and brutality. All the more reason, therefore, we should turn a fearful countenance to our own "Big Brother." Unfortunately, documented examples of CIA spying and murder are more often fed to the paper-shredder than to the media. The car-bombing of Cuban diplomat Orlando Letelier, however, is certainly attributable to the CIA during Bush's tenure. There are other examples, equally frightening, which space will not allow...
MOSCOW--Soviet President Yuri V Andropov died late Thursday after only 15 months in power, a rule that began with promises of change and ended with the former KGB chief trying to govern a superpower from his sickbed...