Word: commands
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Gorbachev was appalled at the bloodshed in the Baltics and devastated by the criticism that rained down on him at home and abroad. When he met with a group of international peace activists, instead of radiating his usual sense of command, he all but threw himself on the mercy of his visitors. He promised he was still committed to making the U.S.S.R. a "law-based society." He portrayed himself as a victim of tumultuous events and historical currents, compared himself to a voyager who was "out of sight of land." He was, he remarked, feeling seasick...
Even the concept of a single army is being questioned. To thwart future coup attempts, Yeltsin and other republic leaders plan to press ahead with plans to form separate armed forces -- in effect republican guard units -- that will not be answerable to Moscow's command. That kind of challenge to its dominance of armed power will probably prevent the military from becoming a firm ally of change. The army will not wither away, but it will have to swallow reforms that so troubled some of its generals that they went to the barricades to forestall them...
Hearing of Bush's remarks from his command center in the Russian Parliament Building, Yeltsin ordered his foreign minister to deliver a letter for Bush to the top U.S. diplomat in Moscow. Deputy chief of mission Jim Collins picked up the missive himself and cabled it to Washington. From there, Robert Gates, Deputy National Security Adviser, relayed it to Brent Scowcroft, who read it aboard Air Force One and informed Bush of its contents...
...overarching criticism of Gorbachev's economic reforms is that he destroyed the old command system without putting anything workable in its place. Most Western economists agree that before any significant assistance is provided, the Soviet Union will have to create a new economic structure. Up to now, Gorbachev has claimed that the reactionaries held him back. But they have been flushed out. Some senior officials in Washington think Gorbachev is part of the problem. "Sure, the coup plotters were obstacles to economic reform," says an Administration foreign policy expert, "but so was Gorbachev...
...answers are not entirely clear. Under the Soviet command-and-control ! structure, the decision to launch any of the country's estimated 27,000 nuclear warheads cannot be made by a single individual. U.S. experts say Moscow's strategic nuclear "button" is in reality a two-part system, in which the Minister of Defense controls one half and the President the other. If Gorbachev's codes had wound up in the hands of Defense Minister Dmitri Yazov, a member of the junta, he would theoretically have had the wherewithal to order the missiles to be launched. But the codes...