Word: westing
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...really in the West's best interest, however, to see it reduced to rubble? On a symbolic level, certainly. The Wall's designer and chief defender, former East German President Erich Honecker, called his creation the "Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier." In this era of glasnost, such rhetoric has about as much standing as the deposed Honecker himself, who was ousted by the East German Politburo three weeks ago after 18 years at the helm...
...literal destruction of the Wall would, in many respects, be redundant. Honecker's successor, Egon Krenz, has promised that most East German travel restrictions will be lifted, making it possible for citizens to travel freely to the West. The thousands who jammed the West German embassy in Prague last week seeking asylum testify to the futility of mere stones to bar the exodus. Johannes Chemnitzer, a member of the East German Communist Party's Central Committee, admitted last week that with the borders open, the Wall's "meaning becomes limited and illusory...
Even if the Wall is stripped of political significance, it still serves a purpose by applying a brake to refugee traffic. An East German official predicts that once free travel wipes out border barriers, about 1.5 million of the country's 16.6 million citizens might head West. Without the Wall, West Berlin will bear the brunt of that great rush. But West Berlin's workers already resent the city's shortages of jobs and housing and the heavy concentration of alien guest workers from Turkey and ethnic Germans from the East bloc. Ironically, unless the burden of a new influx...
Even if such obstacles are satisfactorily addressed, there may still be a peculiar nostalgia to keep portions of the Wall intact. Says Jurgen Schmude, a West German Social Democrat and former Justice Minister: "This thing should be left standing as a memorial so that people in 200 years can study the unbelievable that once was a reality. Except for the Chinese Wall, this is the most famous wall in the world...
Fujitsu, Japan's largest computer firm, has often come under attack in the West for its trade practices. U.S. rivals have accused Fujitsu of a lowball pricing policy that keeps foreign firms out of the Japanese market. But last week a howl of protest went up in Japan when Fujitsu tried to carry out such pricing at home. The uproar occurred after Hiroshima's city government sought bids to design a new computer system. Seven firms offered to do the work at prices ranging from $2,000 to $201,000. But the winner was Fujitsu, which submitted...