Word: sovietization
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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During the embassy siege in Tehran, the Soviets have played an ambiguous role. On the one hand, their Ambassador at the United Nations, Oleg Troyanovsky, both by oratory and vote supported the Security Council resolution demanding the immediate release of the American hostages. On the other hand, Soviet propaganda has done what it could to make mischief. At first the Soviet Farsi-language broadcasts, beamed from Baku into northern Iran, harshly criticized the U.S. These were toned down after Washington protested. But last week, in its harshest volley to date, Pravda accused the U.S. of trying to "blackmail Iran...
Beyond that, Khomeini's Islamic revolution over the long term probably poses as great a threat to the Soviet Union, with its huge Muslim population (some 50 million) as it does to U.S. interests. Moscow's best hope lies in the fact that as long as the current state of near anarchy prevails in Iran, there is the chance of a new revolution that would bring the Marxist left to the fore...
...Soviet ambivalence does not extend, however, to the possible use of American military power in the area. This is one question on which the Soviets as well as America's closest allies in Europe and the Middle East are agreed: that it would be a devastating mistake for the U.S., whatever the provocation, to punish Khomeini by using American power to destroy Iran's airfields or immobilize its oil production. Even the Saudis, though they are fond of saying that the U.S. should throw its weight around and act more like a superpower, are terrified at the notion...
...banner cheered THANK YOU, SOVIET SOLDIERS. Another frostily declared FROM THE NATO STATES WE DEMAND NEGOTIATIONS INSTEAD OF ROCKETS. As bands played at the railroad station in the garrison town of Wittenberg, 1,000 local citizens, plus Western newsmen bused in for the occasion, gathered to witness the latest episode in the propaganda blitz that Moscow is waging against the Western nations' plan to strengthen their nuclear forces in Europe. With fanfare, the Soviets began carrying out an unexpected pledge made by Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev in October to withdraw some forces from East Germany...
...hoopla, however, newsmen saw only about 30 tanks and 150 troops aboard the "train of hope and good will" at Wittenberg. Though the Soviets have promised to withdraw 1,000 tanks and "up to" 20,000 soldiers over the next year, that action will not significantly reduce their East German force, which includes 6,700 tanks and 365,000 troops. Moreover, the outfit involved in last week's withdrawal, the Sixth Guards Tank Division, is rated by the Pentagon as the least capable of all the Soviet units in the Warsaw Pact countries. Essentially, say U.S. analysts, the much...