Word: sovietizers
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With the Iron Curtain long since vanished and Pope John Paul II resting in peace in the crypt below St. Peter's, why should we care whether the Soviet Union was the hand behind the 1981 attempted assassination of the Polish Pontiff? The news Thursday that an Italian parliamentary commission concluded "beyond any reasonable doubt" that the Soviets orchestrated the shooting may not forever settle this slice of intrigue. But 11 months to the day since John Paul's death, the unexpected update on this historical chapter serves as a reminder both of the papacy's unique power - and, especially...
...threat of such a persuasive, publicly subversive figure, according to the non-binding Italian report, that put Wojtyla in the Soviets' firing line. A hired Turkish assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca, was convicted of shooting the Pontiff in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981. (After briefly being released earlier this year, Agca is back in an Istanbul prison serving time for an earlier killing of a Turkish journalist). Italian prosecutors long held that the Bulgarian secret service was working for Soviet military intelligence, but an Italian court held that the evidence was insufficient to convict the Bulgarians...
...leverage over its neighbor. The belief that the US can outsource the job of policing North Korea to China has lulled the Bush administration into thinking that it need not take proactive measures. China actually holds only limited sway over the independent-minded Kim Jong Il. The loss of Soviet support and China’s normalization with South Korea in the early 90s has transformed the Chinese-North Korean relationship into one built more on necessity and convenience than allegiance and trust. In fact, China fears pressuring North Korea and causing the collapse of the Kim regime, which would...
...that Musharraf brandishes the jihadi threat to maintain military rule and suppress Pakistan's main moderate political parties, quite a far cry from the democratic values trumpeted by the Bush Administration. The jihadist element has long been nurtured by the Pakistani security establishment, which cultivated it during the anti-Soviet campaign in Afghanistan in the 1980s (later helping the Taliban to seize power) and used it also to wage a proxy war against India in the disputed territory of Kashmir. Two decades after the onset of the Afghan jihad, radical Islamists are an established feature of Pakistani society, and increasingly...
...Jewish Cemetery, 1 Israelska, where Franz Kafka rests. The beautifully sculpted tombstones in this 115-year-old graveyard function as a sort of outdoor gallery of 20th century artistic styles. For a great view of the hood (and a nosy peek at residents' backyards), climb the 216-m-high, Soviet rocket?like TV tower to its indoor viewing deck. Crawling up and down the tower's pillars are provocateur Czech artist David Cerny's large black babies - definitely more David Lynch than Merchant Ivory. 1 Mahlerovy sady...