Word: sovietism
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Czechoslovakia's 15.5 million citizens have more cause to be astounded by the events of recent weeks than Vaclav Havel? Since the Soviet invasion in 1968, Havel has been the conscience of Prague, a world-famed playwright who might have exploited his status as an intellectual superstar to emigrate to the West, but refused to do so. Instead, Havel, 53, stayed behind, suffering censorship, intermittent police surveillance and repeated jailings so he could continue to give voice to the frustrations and yearnings of a frightened -- and until now mute -- populace...
...stage this informal "feet on the table" pageant of peace took the skillful services of thousands of soldiers, sailors and Marines. While gratified by their new mission, they and their Soviet counterparts retained some of their fighting spirit. Soviet sailors interviewed by the Malta press implied that the older Belknap was a bit of a clunker compared with their cruiser Slava. An American gob, eyeing the Slava's conical superstructure, sniffed, "It makes a good target." But that was about as hostile an environment as could be found until the weather struck, an adversity that may actually have encouraged deeper...
Gorbachev picked up the beat. When he arrived, he noted, "The naval ships have come on a mission of peace. This symbolism gives expression to the radical changes now sweeping the world as it shifts from confrontation." When wind forced the first meeting to be moved to the dockside Soviet cruise ship Maxim Gorky, Gorbachev remarked wryly, "The first thing to do is to eliminate those ships you cannot board in this kind of weather. We will have a secret agenda in this way to disarm the Sixth Fleet." That's the whole point, but it is quicker said than...
Other unexpected triumphs have attended the revolution. Last Tuesday two Civic Forum representatives delivered a letter to the Soviet embassy asking the Supreme Soviet to disavow the 1968 invasion. The two were assured the letter would be telexed to Moscow promptly. "We are very happy with the way events are going," embassy counselor Vasili Filipov told them. "Especially that there is no bloodshed, because we feared bloodshed." How times have changed...
...rebels recently dealt some major blows to Mengistu's troops, which are among the best-equipped in Africa, courtesy of $500 million yearly in Soviet aid. Tigre-led forces are 80 miles from the capital and may sever its links with the country's major port. The government is conscripting women and children and threatening to divert all development aid to mobilization. At gunpoint or with threats of confiscating ration cards, soldiers dragoon crowds for "patriotic" rallies. Mengistu narrowly missed assassination two months...