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Posted on 09/28/2004 10:32:29 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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ARMS TALKS In 1976, Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev promised to reduce East-West tensions. But within four years those promises turned to anger and mistrust. The Cold War was far from over.  Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev Secretary of State Cyrus Vance went to Moscow with a set of proposals -- one which called for radical cuts in arsenals well below the 1974 levels. But the Soviets bluntly rejected the initiative. At home, Carter and Vance promoted the talks as a positive move. But the public wondered whether the new White House team was up to the task of managing U.S.-Soviet affairs. Carter's proposed 3 percent increase in defense spending did little to deter the view among some that America was losing the arms race -- especially since the Soviets were still pouring resources into their military build-up. HUMAN RIGHTS In the era of détente, the issue of human rights gained attention on both sides of the Iron Curtain. In 1975 in Helsinki, 35 nations -- including the United States and U.S.S.R. -- signed a declaration on human rights. Meanwhile, Czech dissidents secretly drew up Charter 77, a human rights document that was smuggled to the West. Activists in the communist bloc set up Helsinki Watch Committees to monitor and publicize abuses. But the Soviets did not feel bound by the Helsinki Accords and persecuted the dissidents, many of whom ended up in KGB prisons -- or in mental hospitals, where mind-control drugs were used to make them recant.  Students held rallies and picketed the Russian Embassy while declaring a hunger strike to support refusniks. Jews were a distinctive group among the dissidents -- claiming the right to leave the Soviet Union. Many were refused exit visas and became known as refuseniks. Those who campaigned for their rights were often sent to forced labor camps for years. In 1979, the prominent refusenik Anatoly Sharansky was sentenced to 13 years for espionage and treason. Outside the court, supporters defiantly publicized his case to the Western media -- triggering forceful protests in the West. The evidence of human rights abuse inflamed anti-Soviet feeling in America. SALT II As Moscow and Washington clashed over human rights, they also stepped up negotiations for a new arms limitation treaty -- SALT II. One issue not on the SALT II agenda was the Soviets' decision to deploy the SS-20, a new medium-range nuclear missile that targeted Western Europe. West Germany and other NATO allies were alarmed. Instead of making the SS-20s an issue during the SALT II negotiations, the United States pursued a twin-track policy: America would develop its new generation of missiles and allow Moscow three years to negotiate limits on medium-range missiles. If no deal was reached, America would station its cruise and Pershing nuclear missiles in Europe -- and target Soviet cities. Fear of missiles in their backyard created a new mood of resistance among Western Europeans.  By June 1979, the superpowers had agreed to new limits on strategic arms -- completing the SALT II treaty. Carter and Brezhnev met for the first time when they came to Vienna to sign the agreement. Soviets viewed the treaty as a way to limit arms production -- and improve their civilian economy. But in America, the pact was condemned by the political right for not imposing limits on the development of new weapons systems. Ultimately, SALT II would fail to gain congressional approval. MALAISE Increasingly, Carter was charged with being soft on the Soviets. His critics pointed to Soviet expansionism in Angola and the Horn of Africa. They warned that U.S. oil supplies were threatened. Then the Shah of Iran was overthrown. Islamic fundamentalists, led by the Ayatollah Khomeini, took over the oil-rich country. A siege of the U.S. Embassy ended with all diplomats taken hostage. A failed rescue attempt sealed America's humiliation.  In America, the loss of Iran led to long lines at the pump. The economy was slowing down. The blame fell on Carter, further damaging his prestige. Then the Soviets struck in Afghanistan -- essentially bringing an end to dŽtente. Carter, who saw the invasion as part of a wider Soviet plan, gave up hope of Congress approving SALT II. He organized punitive sanctions against the U.S.S.R., including a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics -- a gesture that proved futile and unpopular. World affairs ultimately influenced the 1980 U.S. presidential election. Carter faced difficult odds: The economy was slack, Americans were still hostage in Iran, the Soviets were still in Afghanistan. Carter himself saw a growing spirit of "malaise" in the country. His opponent, Republican Ronald Reagan, won the election by a large margin -- in part by promising much tougher policies against Moscow. SOLIDARITY In Poland, the Soviets faced a fresh challenge. The Polish economy was in crisis, shortages were everywhere, Western loans had been squandered and the country was burdened by international debt. In the midst of the crisis, the new pope, Karol Wojtyla, visited his homeland -- and called on his flock to retake control of their destiny.  Lech Walesa and Solidarity Inspired by John Paul II's message, workers at the Gdansk shipyard staged an illegal strike in the summer of 1980 -- after the government yet again raised food prices. The strikers drew up a 21-point list of demands and refused to leave the shipyard until the demands were met. The government decided to negotiate and eventually agreed to the workers' key demands -- among them the right to strike. Intellectuals joined the workers in forming a new movement -- Solidarity. As support for Solidarity spread throughout the world, the movement became increasingly defiant. Moscow watched with growing alarm. MARTIAL LAW By December 1980, Soviet pressure on the Polish leadership was intense. Warsaw Pact forces were massed around Poland's borders. The message was clear: Curb Solidarity or else. American concern grew as Brezhnev pressed Poland's leader, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, to plan countermeasures.  Meanwhile, the hard-line policies of the new U.S. president, Ronald Reagan, boosted morale in Poland, where Solidarity had 9 million supporters fighting for economic reform and political rights. Strikes gripped the country. On December 2, 1981, in a warning to Solidarity, riot police crushed a firemen's strike. Ten days later, Solidarity met to plan a nationwide strike. But that night, the Polish government sent in the army, arrested Solidarity's leaders and banned the trade movement. Jaruzelski declared martial law, suspending civil rights. Moscow had reimposed its will. East-West relations were fractured once more.
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And had their eyes open!
Thank you for your memories Matthew.
What a time it must have been for you.
Thank You Matthew.
Czech Republic/Slovakia: Text Of Charter 77
Prague, 1 January 1997 (RFE/RL) -- Today marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Czechoslovak human rights document, Charter 77. Charter 77 was a petition calling on Czechoslovakia's communist authorities to respect the international human rights agreements they had signed. It was drafted in secret in late 1976, initially signed in Prague by some 300 people, mainly dissidents, and released to foreign correspondents in January 1977.
Text of Charter 77 - Declaration
1 January 1977
In the Czechoslovak Collection of Laws, no. 120 of 13 October 1976, texts were published of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which were signed on behalf of our Republic in 1968, were confirmed at Helsinki in 1975 and came into force in our country on 23 March 1976. From that date our citizens have the right, and our state the duty, to abide by them.
The human rights and freedoms underwritten by these covenants constitute important assets of civilised life for which many progressive movements have striven throughout history and whose codification could greatly contribute to the development of a humane society.
We accordingly welcome the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic's accession to those agreements.
Their publication, however, serves as an urgent reminder of the extent to which basic human rights in our country exist, regrettably, on paper only.
The right to freedom of expression, for example, guaranteed by article 19 of the first-mentioned covenant, is in our case purely illusory. Tens of thousands of our citizens are prevented from working in their own fields for the sole reason that they hold views differing from official ones, and are discriminated against and harassed in all kinds of ways by the authorities and public organisations. Deprived as they are of any means to defend themselves, they become victims of a virtual apartheid.
Hundreds of thousands of other citizens are denied that 'freedom from fear' mentioned in the preamble to the first covenant, being condemned to live in constant danger of unemployment or other penalties if they voice their own opinions.
In violation of article 13 of the second-mentioned covenant, guaranteeing everyone the right to education, countless young people are prevented from studying because of their own views or even their parents'. Innumerable citizens live in fear that their own or their children's right to education may be withdrawn if they should ever speak up in accordance with their convictions. Any exercise of the right to 'seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print' or 'in the form of art', specified in article 19, para. 2 of the first covenant, is punished by extrajudicial or even judicial sanctions, often in the form of criminal charges as in the recent trial of young musicians.
Freedom of public expression is repressed by the centralised control of all the communications media and of publishing and cultural institutions. No philosophical, political or scientific view or artistic expression that departs ever so slightly from the narrow bounds of official ideology or aesthetics is allowed to be published; no open criticism can be made of abnormal social phenomena; no public defence is possible against false and insulting charges made in official propaganda; the legal protection against 'attacks on honour and reputation' clearly guaranteed by article 17 of the first covenant is in practice non-existent; false accusations cannot be rebutted and any attempt to secure compensation or correction through the courts is futile; no open debate is allowed in the domain of thought and art. Many scholars, writers, artists and others are penalised for having legally published or expressed, years ago, opinions which are condemned by those who hold political power today.
Freedom of religious confession, emphatically guaranteed by article 18 of the first covenant, is systematically curtailed by arbitrary official action; by interference with the activity of churchmen, who are constantly threatened by the refusal of the state to permit them the exercise of their functions, or by the withdrawal of such permission; by financial or other measures against those who express their religious faith in word or action; by constraints on religious training and so forth.
One instrument for the curtailment or, in many cases, complete elimination of many civic rights is the system by which all national institutions and organisations are in effect subject to political directives from the apparatus of the ruling party and to decisions made by powerful individuals. The constitution of the Republic, its laws and other legal norms do not regulate the form or content, the issuing or application of such decisions; they are often only given out verbally, unknown to the public at large and beyond its powers to check; their originators are responsible to no one but themselves and their own hierarchy; yet they have a decisive impact on the actions of the lawmaking and executive organs of government, and of justice, of the trade unions, interest groups and all other organisations, of the other political parties, enterprises, factories, institutions, offices, schools, and so on, for whom these instructions have precedence even before the law.
Where organisations or individual citizens, in the interpretation of their rights and duties, come into conflict with such directives, they cannot have recourse to any non-party authority, since none such exists. This constitutes, of course, a serious limitation of the right ensuing from articles 21 and 22 of the first-mentioned covenant, which provides for freedom of association and forbids any restriction on its exercise, from article 25 on the equal right to take part in the conduct of public affairs, and from article 26 stipulating equal protection by the law without discrimination. This state of affairs likewise prevents workers and others from exercising the unrestricted right to establish trade unions and other organisations to protect their economic and social interests, and from freely enjoying the right to strike provided for in para. 1 of article 8 in the second-mentioned covenant.
Further civic rights, including the explicit prohibition of 'arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence' (article 17 of the first covenant), are seriously vitiated by the various forms of interference in the private life of citizens exercised by the Ministry of the Interior, for example, by bugging telephones and houses, opening mail, following personal movements, searching homes, setting up networks of neighbourhood informers (often recruited by illicit threats or promises) and in other ways. The ministry frequently interferes in employers' decisions, instigates acts of discrimination by authorities and organisations, brings weight to bear on the organs of Justice and even orchestrates propaganda campaigns in the media. This activity is governed by no law and, being clandestine, affords the citizen no chance to defend himself.
In cases of prosecution on political grounds the investigative and judicial organs violate the rights of those charged and of those defending them, as guaranteed by article 14 of the first covenant and indeed by Czechoslovak law. The prison treatment of those sentenced in such cases is an affront to human dignity and a menace to their health, being aimed at breaking their morale.
Paragraph 2, article 12 of the first covenant, guaranteeing every citizen the right to leave the country, is consistently violated, or under the pretence of 'defence of national security' is subjected to various unjustifiable conditions (para. 3). The granting of entry visas to foreigners is also handled arbitrarily, and many are unable to visit Czechoslovakia merely because of professional or personal contacts with those of our citizens who are subject to discrimination.
Some of our people -- either in private, at their places of work or by the only feasible public channel, the foreign media -- have drawn attention to the systematic violation of human rights and democratic freedoms and demanded amends in specific cases. But their pleas have remained largely ignored or been made grounds for police investigation.
Responsibility for the maintenance of civic rights in our country naturally devolves in the first place on the political and state authorities. Yet, not only on them: everyone bears his share of responsibility for the conditions that prevail and accordingly also for the observance of legally enshrined agreements, binding upon all citizens as well as upon governments. It is this sense of co-responsibility, our belief in the meaning of voluntary citizens' involvement and the general need to give it new and more effective expression that led us to the idea of creating Charter 77, whose inception we today publicly announce.
Charter 77 is a free informal, open community of people of different convictions, different faiths and different professions united by the will to strive, individually and collectively, for the respect of civic and human rights in our own country and throughout the world -- rights accorded to all men by the two mentioned international covenants, by the Final Act of the Helsinki conference and by numerous other international documents opposing war, violence and social or spiritual oppression, and which are comprehensively laid down in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Charter 77 springs from a background of friendship and solidarity among people who share our concern for those ideals that have inspired, and continue to inspire, their lives and their work.
Charter 77 is not an organisation; it has no rules. permanent bodies or formal membership. It embraces everyone who agrees with its ideas, participates in its work, and supports it. It does not form the basis for any oppositional political activity. Like manv similar citizen initiatives in various countries, West and East, it seeks to promote the general public interest. It does not aim, then, to set out its own programmes for political or social reforms or changes, but within its own sphere of activity it wishes to conduct a constructive dialogue with the political and state authorities, particularly by drawing attention to various individual cases where human and civil rights are violated, by preparing documentation and suggesting solutions, by submitting other proposals of a more general character aimed at reinforcing such rights and their guarantees, and by acting as a mediator in various conflict situations which may lead to injustice and so forth.
By its symbolic name Charter 77 denotes that it has come into being at the start of a year proclaimed as the Year of Political Prisoners, a year in which a conference in Belgrade is due to review the implementation of the obligations assumed at Helsinki.
As signatories, we hereby authorise Professor Dr Jan Patocka, Vaclav Havel and Professor Jiri Hajek to act as the spokesmen for the Charter. These spokesmen are endowed with full authority to represent it vis-a-vis state and other bodies. and the public at home and abroad, and their signatures attest the authenticity of documents issued by the Charter. They will have us, and others who join us, as their co-workers, taking part in any needful negotiations, shouldering particular tasks and sharing every responsibility.
We believe that Charter 77 will help to enable all the citizens of Czechoslovakia to work and live as free human beings.
http://plato.acadiau.ca/COURSES/POLS/Grieve/3593/Czech/Charter77.html
If anyone is interested there are two good books I've read on the Soviet/Afgan war
"Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History"
Book Description
From an award-winning 60 Minutes reporter comes the extraordinary story of the largest and most successful CIA operation in history—the arming of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan.
"In little over a decade, two events have transformed the world we live in: the collapse of our Cold War nuclear foe, the Soviet Union; and the discovery, after 9/11, that we face a new global enemy in the form of militant Islam," writes author and 60 Minutes producer George Crile in the enclosed Author's Note to Charlie Wilson's War. Here, we see the "missing chapter"-that connects the two events-in the politics of our time.
Charlie Wilson's War is the untold story of how the Central Intelligence Agency armed the Afghan Mujahideen in what became the CIA's largest and most successful campaign in history. It profiles the men who conceived it and the journey they took to see it through. At its core, it tells of an unorthodox alliance-of a scandal-prone Texas Congressman named Charlie Wilson and an out-of-favor CIA operative named Gust Avrakotos-that armed and sustained the Afghan jihad and turned Afghanistan into the Soviet Union’s Vietnam.
As incredible as anything in the pages of Tom Clancy or John le Carré, Charlie Wilson's War is a gripping story of international intrigue, booze, drugs, sex, high society and arms deals. It is indeed one of the most detailed and compulsively readable accounts of the inside workings of the CIA ever written.
Along the way, we meet:
· The charismatic Congressman Charlie Wilson. While Ronald Reagan and William Casey were unable to persuade Congress to give them a mere $19 million to fund the Nicaraguan Contras, Wilson was procuring hundreds of millions of dollars to support his Afghan "freedom fighters" through back-room machinations that would have made even LBJ blush. A colorful man of many contradictions, he worked hard and played hard, earning the reputation as the "wildest man in Congress" while representing an archconservative Bible-belt district in Texas.
· The out-of-favor CIA operative, Gust Avrakotos, whose working-class Greek-American background made him an anomaly in the patrician world of American spies. Nicknamed "Dr. Dirty", this blue collar James Bond was an aggressive agent who served on the front lines of the Cold War where he learned how to stretch the Agency's rules to the breaking point.
· The eccentric staff of CIA outcasts hand-picked by Avrakotos to run the operation. Among them were "Hilly Billy", the logistics wizard who could open an un-numbered Swiss bank account for the U.S. government in 12 hours when others took months; Art Alper, the "devilish" tinkerer from the Technical Services division who roamed the world creating such novelties as exploding typewriters and developed portable amplifiers that spread propaganda among the Soviet troops; and especially Mike Vickers, the former Green Beret so junior in status that he couldn't send his own cables. His military genius allowed him to single-handedly redesign the CIA's war plan. Through his highly specific blueprint, he created a systematic plan that turned a rabble of shepherds and tribesmen into an army of techno Holy warriors who gave the legendary Red Army their greatest defeat. Today, Mike Vickers is consulting for the Pentagon on the War on Terrorism and war planning for Iraq.
· The many women who shared the Congressman's jihad. It all began with a Houston socialite, Joanne Herring who enlisted Wilson to the Afghan cause via her deep-seated hatred of Communism and her influence in Pakistan. Carol Shannon, Wilson's personal belly dancer who he took with him to the jihad. Charlie's Angels, Wilson's female staffers so strikingly beautiful that they became a legend on Capitol Hill. And finally, Annelise Illschenko, aka "Sweetums", the former U.S. representative in the Miss World competition who traveled with Wilson deep into the Islamic world in outfits that were not the most appropriate attire in the eyes of Muslim men
· The Pakistani dictator Zia ul Haq, who early on realized that the way to millions of dollars in American aid was through Charlie Wilson and his covert war in Afghanistan. A dictator whom many held personally responsible for the execution of his democratically elected predecessor, Zia used his favorable status as an ally of the U.S. against the Soviets to divert attention from his own nuclear weapons program while providing the all-important safe haven and operations center for the CIA's Afghan operations .
Charlie Wilson's War is the CIA and Congress as you have never seen them before, engaged in the last great battle of the Cold War. Along with its page-turning pace, this is an important book that has direct implications for today’s world situation.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0871138549/ref%3Dnosim/satisfactiong-20/104-1275448-6187131
Afghanistan The Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower
by Mohammad Yousaf, Mark Adkin
How did the horrendous situation in Afghanistan, with all its implications for recent events and the present time, come to pass? What was the role of the CIA and Pakistani intelligence in the creation of what became the Taliban? What are the implications for the future and lessons from the past for American forces today?
This highly controversial book reveals one of the greatest military, political and financial secrets of recent times. It is nothing less than the true, if fantastic, account of how Pakistan and the USA covertly controlled the largest guerrilla war of the 20th Century, dealing to the Soviet Russian presence in Afghanistan a military defeat that has come to be called 'Russia's Vietnam'.
From 1983 to 1987 the author, Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf, was the head of the Afghan Bureau of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI-akin to the CIA), and as such was effectively the Mujahideen's commander-in-chief; he is. in fact, as the book demonstrates, the only general since the Second World War to have directed troops in action within the Soviet Union's own borders. He controlled the flow of thousands of tons of arms across Pakistan and into its occupied neighbor, arms bought with CIA and Saudi Arabian funds from the USA, Britain, China, Egypt and Turkey, amongst others. He organized and directed the training of the Mujahideen in secret camps within his own country, and covertly sent Pakistan Army teams inside Afghanistan to assist the guerrilla's in their campaign of ambushes, assassinations, raids and rocket attacks, a campaign that forced the Soviets to realize that they could never win. He saw that the Mujahideen were fed, cared for, and supplied with every necessity; he organized recruiting from among the thousands of refugees; he negotiated with the leaders of various guerrilla groups (a task requiring the skills, patience, and strength of character of several saints); and he coordinated the ultra-secret Mujahideen raids deep inside what was then still the USSR.
There are many in authority in the USA and Pakistan who would still prefer that Brigadier Yousaf's revelations were not made public, and not least his confirmation that American and Pakistani authorities deliberately blocked any serious investigation into the-murder of Pakistan's leader, General Zia, the US Ambassador, and Yousaf's superior, the head of ISI, in an airplane crash in August 1988. Never published in the USA, the last remaining copies of the original 1992 UK hardcover edition were snapped up by US intelligence in the last week of September.
This compelling book, put together with great skill by the military author, Mark Adkin, is essential reading for anyone interested in the truth behind the Soviets' Vietnam, and the reasons why, to this day, the war in Afghanistan still drags on despite the victory that the Mujahideen were denied when the Soviets withdrew.
The Lessons in The Bear Trap have never been more relevant after the President declared "war against world terrorism". It is mandatory reading for military planners and will fascinate all with a close interest and concern in events triggered by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0971170924/ref%3Dpd%5Fsl%5Faw%5Falx-jeb-9-1%5Fbook%5F4972255%5F3/104-1275448-6187131
Free again ! Thank you, America!
Our pleasure.
Thank you for your memories.
I understand. :-)
Thanks for the recommendation Valin.
Yikes. She's got to get some better quality feed so she can attract more 'pleasant' birds to her yard. Then she'll still feed the birds but the neighbors won't complain.
I'm a Smirnoff guy. :-)
Great landing too. Saw it live. :-)
LOL!
Story was on FOXNEWS!
Don't tell anyone but we win. :-)
man those neighbors were mad!
LOL! Orange man!!
Good analysis CT.
The Soviets collapsed under their own weight, they had an extremely inefficient system and "memebers" who were kept in by force. Sooner or later they had to collapse, IMHO it could have been sooner if the West would have pushed harder, earlier.
Thank you, Matt for sharing your memories and feelings of the events in the 80's leading to Poland's freedom from Soviet domination.
I pray the US never again leaves Poland hanging as it did in the 1940's.
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