Word: tripping
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...thinking Soviet Foreign Minister promoting? Not many. Shevardnadze's peace proposal was largely procedural, reiterating an idea that has been floating around the region for several years and is widely endorsed by most of the relevant parties, except Israel. But as a public relations ploy, the trip was effective. Shevardnadze amply demonstrated Moscow's intention to break Washington's monopoly as the peace broker in the Middle East. With his shrewd charm and flair for appearing to generate goodwill, Shevardnadze sent a new breeze through the Middle East -- a breeze that George Bush promised would come from the U.S. Indeed...
...State James Baker asserted in a television interview, "I don't think it's ((an area)) that if it incubates further, it blows up." Somewhat testily, Bush also applied the brakes: "I don't want to be stampeded by the fact that the Soviet Foreign Minister takes a trip to the Middle East." Though he praised Shevardnadze's trip as a "good thing," the President reiterated that the Soviet role in the region "should be limited." Shevardnadze had a canny response: "This is very sad because it injects an element of rivalry that is unnecessary." Then, with a smile...
...most dramatic moments of Shevardnadze's trip were saved for his 2 1/2- hour meeting with Arens. Building on a flirtation that began several years ago, the two Foreign Ministers made history by holding their meeting on Arab soil. They pledged to continue their bilateral courtship at a high diplomatic level, though they accomplished nothing concrete that would further the peace process. On specifics, they had little in common. Shevardnadze pressed Arens to drop Israel's opposition to an international peace conference and talk to the P.L.O. Arens replied by urging Shevardnadze to sign on to Jerusalem's preference...
Ultimately, Moscow was probably the big winner from the trip. If Shevardnadze's journey actually did little to nudge the mired peace process, it helped the Soviets gain a larger role in the region. Even the Israelis seemed to accept their presence, despite long-standing fears that a higher Soviet profile could bring unwanted pressures to bear. Said Galia Golan, a professor at Hebrew University: "Israel is treating the Soviet Union as virtually a factor equal to the United States...
...each other and to the material, and I am touched and astounded by their capacity." He is already a bit sad that this long voyage into his shining past and Broadway's iffy future is completed. "I'm like a cruise director," he says. "I organize the trip and the entertainment and the luggage. Then everybody gets on the ship, and it sails off without me. After a show opens, a chasm opens before me. My relationships with 70 people almost come to a halt. I like them a lot, and I miss them tremendously...