Word: kremlins
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Long used to icy adversaries in the Kremlin, Americans must now confront a vigorous and imaginative Soviet leader. He is bent on transforming his muscle- bound but backward empire into a modern state able to hold its own in the global marketplace of goods and ideas. There is reason to wish him well, but also reason for skepticism. See WORLD...
Such a withering away of the cold war would require a large measure of freedom within the Soviet Union to help dispel Western outrage over the way it treats the people it rules. The Kremlin would have to justify its authority by focusing on the needs and aspirations of its citizens rather than by pursuing expansionist aims. In addition, the Soviets would need to abandon the notion that their security depends on threatening the security of others. Lenin's old dictum of kto-kogo (who-whom) -- or who will prevail over whom -- would have to give way to a concept...
Given what is now known, the West cannot afford to let down its guard. The Soviet armies and the Kremlin's worldwide apparatus of subversion are not about to melt away. But if Gorbachev can show that he is serious about changing the ground upon which the superpower competition will henceforth be waged, the West should be pleased: the new playing field is one on which the Soviets are still amateurs. For if the rivalry evolves from one based on military assertion into one dominated by the force of ideas, the appeal of values and the potency of economic systems...
...change in the Kremlin's rhetoric should not be seen as a sign that the Soviets have abandoned their belief in Communism or become converts to the West. The new tack seems motivated mainly by a realization that military competition and Third World adventurism are expensive and not all that rewarding. Keeping Cuba afloat costs the Soviets more than $4 billion a year; the Afghanistan occupation requires the deployment of close to 120,000 troops; the military budget consumes, according to some estimates, about 14% of total government spending. Gorbachev's domestic objectives will demand a massive reallocation of resources...
American analysts from Kennan onward have stressed their own view of the connection: the Kremlin's totalitarian domestic system, they argue, is a primary cause of its expansionist foreign policy. In order to consolidate and protect its power at home, the ruling elite finds it useful to create a hostile international environment. Richard Pipes, a history professor at Harvard University and hard-line Soviet expert who served in the Reagan Administration, is a noted proponent of this view. Says he: "Aggressiveness is embedded in a system where there is a dictatorial party that can justify its power only by pretending...