Word: problems
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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Beheshti's party has so far succeeded in hamstringing Banisadr. First, it has used its domination of the ruling Revolutionary Council to frustrate the President's attempts to name a Prime Minister and resolve the problem of the 53 U.S. citizens held hostage since Nov. 4. Now the clerical party is making the same tactical use of its domination of the newly elected parliament...
Curing that problem would almost certainly mean making drastic changes in the very structure of Soviet society, as well as in its ideological foundations. To do so would require a degree of foresight and boldness that, up until now, the system has suppressed, and it would risk unleashing sudden, unpredictable change and upheaval in a country where both are anathema...
...alcohol. Buying liquor, however, is difficult. Draftees earn a mere four rubles a month (about $6), enough for 13 bottles of beer or a third of a liter of vodka or a dozen packs of cigarettes. Because draftees are short of cash, the Soviet military has a theft problem. Auto parts, grease, rope, felt boots, heavy overcoats and other items in short supply for civilians are smuggled off base to nearby villages and sold or bartered for liquor. Soviet soldiers are as adept as their counterparts elsewhere in the world at concocting an alcoholic brew from such unusual sources...
...Soviet military faces some problems that could impair its capabilities in extended combat. One difficulty is mounting ethnic tension as more non-Slavic minorities join the ranks. Name-calling is common and fights are frequent. Another problem is the reluctance of Soviet officers to take initiative. They have been trained to prize iron discipline, they believe in conformity to a highly centralized command system, and?above all?they follow orders. But on a modern battlefield, communications can easily be cut and unit formations disrupted. Under these conditions, Soviet officers might not be able to take advantage of sudden opportunities...
...Marxism-Leninism as practiced by Moscow has fashioned something of an inertia-bound bureaucracy that limits incentive and suppresses inventiveness. Says Economist Judith Thornton of the University of Washington: "Imagine a whole economy organized and run like the Department of Energy or the Pentagon. Of course, there is a problem. Public organizations work less efficiently than do private ones, which are eliminated if they are not competitive." The law of the land for the Soviet economy is the national Five-Year Plan. The State Planning Committee (GOSPLAN) allocates all investment capital, sets every price and production goal and determines...