Word: martialled
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...eerie echo rings through those words. They were not uttered by Ronald Reagan last week when he imposed sanctions against the U.S.S.R. in response to the declaration of martial law in Poland. Rather, they were spoken by Jimmy Carter, almost two years ago to the day, when he levied economic sanctions against the Soviet Union for its invasion of Afghanistan. Although Carter in effect cut nearly all U.S. economic and political ties to the Soviet Union, Reagan lashed out at his predecessor during the presidential campaign for failing to respond aggressively enough to the Soviets: if elected, Reagan promised...
Those who consider Reagan's measured policy wise could offer several plausible defenses. One was that even concerted action by the allies would probably not persuade Warsaw or Moscow to lift martial law, at least for the moment. Another argument was that some gesture had to be made: mere silence would be perceived as acquiescence to an atrocity. More than that, it remained possible that Moscow would see the sanctions as only a first step, which might give the Soviets pause for restraint. Said one senior U.S. diplomat: "If we had come down like a ton of bricks...
...announcing the sanctions, Reagan nevertheless made it clear that he thought the Soviets were the real instigators of martial law in Poland. "The Soviet Union bears a heavy and direct responsibility for the repression in Poland," said Reagan. "Further steps may be necessary, and I will be prepared to take them. American decisions will be determined by Soviet actions...
TIME has learned that one factor in decision making at the White House was an intelligence report, received before the imposition of martial law in Poland, that the Soviet Union intended to use General Wojciech Jaruzelski to break the back of the independent Polish trade union movement, Solidarity, and to restore order to both the country and Poland's Communist Party. Jaruzelski, so the report went, might be replaced as First Secretary of the party with a reliably pro-Soviet politician. The report cited martial law as one probable option that Jaruzelski might use to restore the party...
Workers turn to passive resistance as a weapon against martial...