Word: kremlins
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...false dawn of the Khrushchev years. Glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) may turn out to be less "irreversible" than Gorbachev proclaims them to be. Even so, his reforms can no longer be dismissed as a mere matter of style, of a telegenic new face in the Kremlin. Gorbachev is that, to be sure. Also a dedicated Communist. Also a ruthless political opportunist. In 1987 he became something more, a symbol of hope for a new kind of Soviet Union: more open, more concerned with the welfare of its citizens and less with the spread of its ideology and system abroad...
...remarkably Western mix of charm and sermonizing. The effect was apparent during the December summit with Ronald Reagan. Alternately jovial and argumentative, combining sharp intelligence with a homey touch and playing to the camera in the most effective way -- by seeming to ignore it -- he came across as a Kremlin version of the Great Communicator. Add an attractive, strong-willed wife, and the picture of an American-style politician is complete...
...rising Kremlin star got a firsthand look at how far the Soviet economy had fallen behind the West's. When Gorbachev joined the national hierarchy, he was already well traveled by comparison with such other Soviet leaders as Andropov, who never set foot outside the Communist world, and Suslov, who reportedly once told a visa applicant that he saw no reason why anyone would want to journey beyond the U.S.S.R...
...himself; two for aides and bodyguards, and a heavily curtained vehicle bristling with antennas that is assumed to carry the coding equipment for launching nuclear weapons. His main office is on the fifth floor of the Central Committee headquarters, a quarter of a mile from the Kremlin; he also maintains an office in a building just behind the Lenin Mausoleum and the Kremlin wall, but he uses it mostly to receive visitors. He usually returns home at about 6 p.m. in another motorcade. Extra traffic police are stationed along Kutuzovsky Prospekt to clear the central lanes for the four limousines...
...Some polls disclose considerable grumbling that perestroika has so far meant only harder work for little measurable reward. Consumers may soon have to pay more for some of the necessities of life if Gorbachev follows through on his plan to trim or eliminate many state subsidies. The Kremlin boss rightly complains that the subsidies on bread, for example, make it so cheap that children sometimes use loaves as footballs. But a higher price for bread, while it might be fully justified by production costs, is likely to cause strong discontent...