Word: sovietizers
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...that the final rounds of presummit briefings, speeches, meetings and (as always) propaganda in Washington and Moscow lend support to both these forecasts. Admittedly, the long-awaited talks next week between the leaders of the world's two nuclear superpowers may never get beyond the boiler plate of Soviet-American relations. If any concrete agreements emerge (cultural exchanges? new consulates?), it might be stretching a point to call them milestones. Indeed, it seems increasingly obvious that the 74-year-old President of the U.S. and the 54-year-old General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party are going to Geneva...
...made a career of denouncing, Secretary of State George Shultz flew to Moscow with National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane and a dozen-odd other U.S. officials last week to lay the final groundwork for the meeting. The American team was whisked to Osobnyak, the czarist-era mansion where Soviet diplomats often conduct business. "We always expect good results from meetings," said Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze before escorting his visitors into the white marble meeting room. It was a friendly opening to two days of inconclusive argument about fundamental differences...
...spirit looming over the first business session the Soviet leader has ever held with top American officials was that of Lenin, whose brooding fervor seemed to pervade the exchange. Huge portraits of him decorated Red Square in anticipation of last week's anniversary parade of the Bolshevik Revolution; a portrait of Lenin even peered over Shultz's shoulder in the austere Kremlin conference room where the talks were held. Gorbachev opened with a comment that "most often misunderstandings come from a lack of knowledge." Shultz replied: "That's right, although sometimes I know cases where I wish I didn...
...four hours of private talks that followed, neither side budged an inch. On the American side were Shultz, McFarlane and U.S. Ambassador Arthur Hartman. Sitting with Gorbachev were Shevardnadze and Soviet Ambassador to Washington Anatoli Dobrynin. The meeting got straight to business, but it quickly became apparent that no one was ready to modify set positions. Shultz had come to Moscow largely to probe for possible Soviet concessions, but found Gorbachev unyielding on almost every point. Human rights? That subject was "discussed rather fully," Shultz told reporters later, "but I have nothing to report as to what possible constructive outcome...
More disconcerting even than Gorbachev's substantive positions was his tone. The Soviet leader who met Shultz last week was not at all the affable crowd pleaser who toured London, Paris and Soviet farms and factories; he was a tough executive used to dominating a discussion. One American described the Soviet chief's demeanor as "intellectually curious, vigorous, active, articulate, argumentative, self-assured, occasionally impulsive." Suspicious too. According to Shultz, Gorbachev "suggested all that happens results from a conspiracy of the [U.S.] military and Big Business." Another American official reported Gorbachev seemed convinced that U.S. policy "was heavily influenced...