Word: sovietizers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...from the tyrannies of rigid central planning. Among other things, they could make more decisions about production quotas without the approval of state authorities. Small-scale entrepreneurs were al lowed to open everything from private bakeries to boutiques and restaurants. In the countryside, profit-oriented cooperatives sprang up alongside Soviet-style collective farms. Vendors were allowed to set the prices of vegetables, clothing and many consumer goods freely...
Scathing in his criticism of inefficiencies in the Soviet economy, Gorbachev made preliminary moves toward streamlining the bloated bureaucracy. But he stopped well short of decentralization and the introduction of free-market mechanisms. Such bold measures would inevitably weaken the party's absolute power, and nothing that Gorbachev has done or said suggests he is willing to run that risk...
...trying to make more palatable the ones he inherited. At his Geneva summit meeting with Reagan, he proved himself an able spokesman for a depressingly familiar set of attitudes, objectives and one-sided demands. The U.S.S.R. might withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, but only if that country remained under Soviet control; the U.S. must ultimately remove all its intermediate-range missiles from Western Europe, even though the Soviets dominate that category; Washington must cancel Star Wars despite a huge Soviet buildup in both offense and defense...
More generally, Gorbachev made clear that whatever his ambitions to improve the Soviet economy and the country's image abroad, he is determined to compete ruthlessly with the U.S. on every front and to keep Soviet military might at a level where the U.S.S.R. feels secure, and therefore where much of the rest of the world feels insecure. As the most powerful newcomer to the world stage, Gorbachev had numerous occasions to flash his nice smile, but those iron teeth were always showing. --By Strobe Talbott
...seems certain to create still more crises. The President's plan to reform and simplify the tax code was passed (just barely) by the House, which watered down the reforms, abandoned the simplicity, then tossed it to the Senate. Reagan's long-standing desire to speak directly to the Soviet people will be realized on New Year's Day, when he and Party Leader Mikhail Gorbachev give reciprocal radio and television addresses to each other's nations; but when they sit down for their second summit later in the year, a world yearning for progress on arms control will...