Word: pacts
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Soviet Aides Hint Hungary is Free to Quit Warsaw Pact...
East Germans poured into Czechoslovakia aftertheir government lifted a month-old ban on travelto the neighboring Warsaw Pact ally, still theonly nation East Germans can visit withoutofficial permission...
...week of the political upheavals in Eastern Europe, maintaining that each country has "absolute freedom of choice." But what if ethnic or nationalist rivalries erupt? Suppose Soviet and East European notions of reform become incompatible? What if, for instance, Hungary or Poland should choose to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact? "We keep thinking that Hungary, Poland and East Germany have hit the threshold of Soviet forbearance," says David Ratford, a Soviet and East European expert in the British Foreign Office. "We are at a loss to explain how the threshold has been moved time and time again...
...Prime Minister Mazowiecki has no plans to withdraw Poland from the Warsaw Pact, and an alliance declaration in July forbade the use of pact troops in the affairs of member nations. Still, Poland plans to push for further bilateral assurances. The Soviets are pressing NATO for a mutual phasing out of the Eastern and Western military alliances, but Moscow is certain to reject individual initiatives by pact members. As Soviet spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov said last week, "We may witness a change of government in Warsaw or Budapest, but international obligations do not necessarily go away with a change of government...
...discussion of disintegrating military alliances leads to the question of German reunification. And that prospect will probably keep the Poles firmly tethered to the Warsaw Pact. Polish mistrust of the Germans cuts deep, dating back to the 13th century. Logic dictates that Poland, repeatedly divided during the 18th and 19th centuries, should sympathize with the Germanys' desire to reunite. But the thought of 78 million Germans under one flag next door is enough to give even the most zealous reformer pause. "We already detect a growth of German assertiveness," warns a leading Polish economist. Says Bromke: "The Warsaw Pact...