Word: marxist
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...debate to frame and 132 pages to spell out. But the essence of the Kissinger commission's prescription for U.S. policy toward war-torn Central America could be put in a single word: more. More recognition, to begin with, that the U.S. has a vital interest in combatting Marxist revolution in the isthmus, and the misery and oppression that feed such revolution. Thus much more aid of every kind: more guns, ammunition, helicopters for friendly governments, but also more money to buy food, build roads and schools, train nurses and dentists. More pressure for democratic reform...
Kissinger, while accepting that wording, added a note urging that "conditionality" not be interpreted "in a manner that leads to a Marxist-Leninist victory." In a briefing for reporters, he explained that it would be "absurd" to stop military aid to El Salvador on human rights grounds if the cutoff resulted in a victory for a Communist regime that would kill even more indiscriminately. But if Salvadoran rightists do not believe that there is a risk of an aid cutoff, how can they ever be persuaded to curb their terrorism? Said one commissioner: "We never really resolved the dilemma...
Another troublesome point was U.S. policy toward Nicaragua. In general, the commission took an uncompromisingly hard line: The U.S. must not settle for "static containment" of a heavily armed Marxist dictatorship. Instead, the U.S. should keep pressure on the Sandinistas to schedule free elections, end censorship and otherwise liberalize their regime, without necessarily abandoning power...
...Soviet Marxism. Except in Ethiopia, Angola and Mozambique, Moscow's attempts to play on the anticolonialist sentiments of Africans have foundered. For one thing, Africans have discovered that education, customs and trade still tie them more closely to Western Europe. They have also observed that experiments in Marxist socialism have largely been unsuccessful. One of the best examples is resource-rich Ghana, where the four-year-old government of Flight Lieut. Jerry Rawlings, 36, now faces an economy teetering on the brink of collapse. The Soviets have demonstrated skill at selling arms to poor African nations, often for hard...
...favoring continued U.S. military assistance and hefty infusions of economic-development funds, which alone could total $5 billion to $7 billion during the next five years. Panel members are said to agree that any aid must be tied to political and economic reforms. Such a linkage principle would exclude Marxist Nicaragua, but whether it would put pressure on El Salvador or Guatemala is not clear. The roles that regional negotiations and the U.S. military must play in bringing about stability are also open questions. But whatever the specific issues that remain to be resolved, the White House will find...