Word: sovietizers
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...conflict in Afghanistan is, in a sense, the biggest war in which the U.S. is currently involved--if only indirectly. Congress has secretly allocated $470 million for the current fiscal year for the Central Intelligence Agency to help arm Afghanistan's anti-Soviet resistance fighters. But large amounts of military materiel purchased by the CIA and funneled through Pakistan reportedly are failing to reach the mujahedin guerrillas. Instead, for reasons that range from expediency to personal profit, arms are being appropriated, traded, sold or hidden by groups with access to the shipments. That includes Pakistan's armed forces, Afghan political...
...Geneva summit is not the only sign of a thaw in U.S.-Soviet relations. While Ronald Reagan was preparing to meet with Mikhail Gorbachev, a group of American banks was quietly deciding to loan money to the Soviet Union. The First National Bank of Chicago and three New York banks--Bankers Trust, Morgan Guaranty and Irving Trust--have joined the Royal Bank of Canada in giving the Soviets a $200 million credit line to help buy American and Canadian grain. Other U.S. banks are expected to participate in the loans...
American loans dried up after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and President Carter responded by putting strict limits on U.S. grain sales to Moscow. When Reagan lifted the embargo in 1981, the Soviet Union turned mostly to Europe for loans to buy grain. This year, though, the Kremlin began seeking American credit once again. Troubled by seven consecutive disappointing harvests, the Soviets are expected to buy $1.6 billion worth of grain from the U.S. this year...
...Soviet Union can use new credit because its income from oil exports has dropped as a result of production problems and low petroleum prices. During the first six months of the year, Soviet export earnings in major currencies were only $14.5 billion, down about 23% from the same period in 1984. That is not enough to cover imports, which the Kremlin is reluctant to cut back because it is starting a new five-year economic plan...
...Kremlin thus decided to make up its cash shortage by seeking new loans. Jan Vaņous, a Soviet expert at the Plan-Econ research firm in Washington, expects Soviet debt to rise by $8 billion this year. By lending part of the money, American banks will help ease U.S.-Soviet tensions and make some profits in the bargain...