Word: lithuania
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...orderly secession by Moscow's rules. Landsbergis had already been stung by George Bush's decision not to impose economic sanctions on the Soviet Union -- a decision the Lithuanian leader likened to the appeasement of Hitler at the 1938 Munich conference. The comparison was farfetched, since Bush was counseling Lithuania to take a less confrontational course toward independence, not to surrender to a predatory totalitarian...
With these signs that the West would not take sides with Lithuania, an antiblockade commission was set up in Vilnius to seek ways around the two- week-old oil-and-gas embargo ordered by Gorbachev. It was also exploring possible food-for-oil swaps. But with the Kremlin in control of the railroads, such schemes were unlikely to break Moscow's squeeze...
...military assault, the West could continue to appeal for peace but otherwise let Gorbachev resolve the Lithuanian crisis in his own way. Washington is clearly tempted by this option. After consulting with visiting French President Francois Mitterrand in Florida the day after Moscow cut off oil to Lithuania, President Bush emerged saying that his staff still had not confirmed the "exact extent of any Soviet crackdown" and that he could not say when the U.S. "might do something" to retaliate...
Much as the U.S. and its allies would like to see an independent Lithuania, that goal runs a poor second to their desire to remain on friendly terms with Gorbachev. If Lithuania provokes a blast of East-West acrimony, notes a senior British diplomat, "it could plunge us back into the cold war." The process of arms reduction would probably halt, and perhaps reverse. The democratization of Eastern Europe would be imperiled, as would prospects for a smooth unification of the Germanys. A return to superpower tensions would also bolster the influence of conservatives in Moscow and undercut Gorbachev...
...Bush Administration is under no pressure from the American people to get tough. In a TIME/CNN poll, 65% of the respondents said Lithuania's status was "none of our business." A majority (53%) felt Bush should meet with Gorbachev in May even if Moscow uses military force in Lithuania...