Word: weakens
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Sanctions often ultimately strengthen rather than weaken their intended victim. The U.N. embargo of Rhodesia, which began in 1966, spurred that country to improve greatly its own domestic manufacturing capacity. Some scholars believe that the same thing could happen in the Soviet Union. Says Robert L. Paarlberg, a professor of political science at Wellesley: "Sanctions might stimulate the Soviets to develop more indigenous technological capabilities that might in the long run strengthen the Communist state...
...possible culprit in the syndrome is cytomegalovirus, which is known to weaken immune defenses and can be transmitted in semen more than a year after infection. In a recent study, traces of CMV were found in 94% of homosexual men, as opposed to 54% of heterosexual men. U.C.L.A.'s Dr. Michael Gottlieb believes that CMV does contribute to the immune deficiency, but, he points out, both the virus and homosexuality "have been around for thousands of years." Thus, he concludes, "there is a piece of the puzzle missing...
P.L.O. officials also warned that Israel was planning an imminent assault on southern Lebanon, ostensibly to weaken Palestinian artillery positions. Some feared an attack could come this week as Arab leaders gather for a summit meeting in Fez, Morocco. The most likely item on their agenda: Saudi Arabia's eight-point peace plan, which calls for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while implicitly recognizing Israel by upholding the "right of the countries of the region to live in peace." An Israeli move into southern Lebanon would almost certainly scuttle the Saudi peace plan...
Moreover, a pledge not to use nuclear weapons first would weaken the doctrine of "extended deterrence," the American nuclear umbrella that covers Western Europe. For that doctrine to remain credible, the U.S. must retain the option of first using nuclear weapons against an attack on Western Europe by the Warsaw Pact's numerically superior conventional forces. If a war in Europe were limited to conventional arms, the Soviets would be heavily favored...
...long-awaited negotiations approach, both sides clearly have far to go before any solid arms control agreement can be reached. And in the interim, Leonid Brezhnev and other Soviet officials will surely continue to try to discredit the U.S. and weaken NATO, by exploiting the growing fears in Europe of nuclear warfare...