Word: kremlins
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...power." Variations on that theme, usually delivered more in sorrow than in anger, are gaining currency. A veteran of the U.S. intelligence community last week said Gorbachev's "blunders are plunging Russia into a new Time of Troubles." That is an ominous reference to nearly a decade of Kremlin intrigue, civil unrest and international conflict in the 17th century...
...face flushed with anger, Mikhail Gorbachev sat stiffly in the Kremlin's Hall of Meetings as the Supreme Soviet thundered through its most tumultuous session yet. For hours last week, speaker after speaker denounced the Soviet leader's request for sweeping new executive powers. Without using those precise words, they accused him of edging back toward Stalinism, of reaching for dictatorial rule. Scowling down from the tribunal at the offending delegates behind rows of desks, he leaned toward the microphone and pointed an accusing finger...
This immense landmass, so long made immutable and monolithic by rule from the Kremlin, is now quaking under the impact of Gorbachev's reforms. The Soviet republics are beginning to snap the political and economic bonds linking them to the once all-powerful center in Moscow. With the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the vanguard, some of the imprisoned peoples are battering the outside walls and intend to leap to freedom. It now seems certain that the center cannot hold onto all 15 republics. What was unthinkable only a few months ago has now become reality...
...that they could keep a grip on their jobs only by throwing in their lot with the nationalist forces in their regions -- actually representing their constituents' interests in dealing with Moscow. In most republics, it has now become good politics for Communist officials to shake a fist at the Kremlin...
...Like every Soviet leader since Lenin, Gorbachev faced a nationalities problem; he simply did not know how to solve it. A special party Central Committee meeting on the issue was repeatedly delayed. When it finally convened last September, it was evident that the postponement had done little good, and Kremlin planners continued to underestimate the strength of rising nationalism. The policy they put forth was a vague collection of homilies on the inadmissibility of secession and the importance of economic integration. "Our party," said Gorbachev, "is in favor of a large and powerful federal state." While republics should...