Word: sovietizers
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This is not the first time warlords have held power in Afghanistan. After the 1989 withdrawal of Soviet troops, rival mujahedin groups that had united to drive out the foreigners turned on one another in a brutal civil war. The government collapsed, and militia commanders were able to seize territory and terrorize the population. The Taliban capitalized on widespread disgust with the warlords' savagery, coming to power in 1996. After Sept. 11, the U.S. relied on the northern warlords and their militias to help oust the Taliban. Many of those leaders were given prominent positions when the new Afghan government...
...religious establishment say détente is still possible even without an Arab-Israeli settlement. The U.S. and Iran, says Mohammad Atrianfar, a newsmagazine editor and unofficial mouthpiece for the camp led by Rafsanjani, should set up a system of diplomacy much like that between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the cold war, to prevent disagreements from turning into open conflict. "The only thing we want from the United States is for them not to mess with our country," he says. But that would mean the U.S. accepting Iran's right to have a nonmilitary nuclear program, ending sanctions...
...Lithuanian author Ricardas Gavelis, and recently translated into English by Elizabeth Novickas, sets up a metaphorical card game to puzzle even the most seasoned players. With four narrators at the table, each of whom bluffs, bets, and folds accordingly, Gavelis conducts a profound autopsy of Lithuanian identity garroted by Soviet rule. This ambitious endeavor is admirably achieved. Gavelis’ writing is a paragon of surrealist creativity and an intensely interesting read, filled with effortlessly intelligent prose and a wryly macabre voice. What’s at stake in “Vilnius Poker” is the namesake city...
...shrewd campaign move in light of recent warnings by several prominent rabbis that casting a vote for Lieberman would be "strengthening Satan." A burly Soviet immigrant to Israel in the 1970s - his Hebrew still retains a Russian inflection - Lieberman provoked the rabbis' ire not only because he is a secular Jew, but also because his tough, anti-Arab slogans are luring many hawkish Israelis away from religious parties. A trip to the Western Wall was a way for Lieberman to underline his kosher credentials. (See pictures of Israel's war in Gaza...
...Communist regime in Warsaw. They achieved this feat not through violent revolution, but through a series of negotiations that became famous as the Round Table talks. The defeat of Communism in Poland—which was soon followed by its total collapse in Eastern Europe and, in 1991, the Soviet Union itself—should properly be regarded as one of the greatest triumphs in European history...