Kissed but Not Squeezed

When Russia called the nations of the Warsaw Pact together for their first full-dress ministerial meeting in 18 months, the avowed intention of Soviet Party Boss Leonid Brezhnev was to strengthen the military command structure of the Red alliance. Brezhnev insisted that the conference be held in Bucharest in order to demonstrate that even the recalcitrant Rumanians could be pressed into a show of Communist unity. Yet when the four-day conference ended last week, the best Brezhnev had achieved was a standoff.

In the rambling, 18-page declaration issued from Bucharest's erstwhile Royal Palace, there was not a word about a strengthened command structure--clear evidence that Rumanian Leader Nicolae Ceausescu had once again thwarted Soviet designs. Instead, the declaration reiterated Brezhnev's call for a pan-European "security conference" aimed at the simultaneous dismantling of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. When Brezhnev first proposed the conference in March, he wanted to keep the U.S. out of any European settlement. This time, the U.S. role was purposely kept ambiguous. In any case, there was no indication in Western capitals that the NATO nations were ready for such a conference just yet.

Brezhnev did succeed in forging a front of European Communist unity. The pact partners issued periodic blasts throughout the week at the "imperialist" U.S. and even vowed to send "volunteers" to Viet Nam if Ho Chi Minh called for help. All of the pact members had made such offers before, but Ho has yet to take them up. Unity was maintained--on the surface at least--right up to the moment that Brezhnev boarded his Aeroflot Ilyushin-18 to fly back to Moscow. After kissing a row of little girls and accepting a spray of red gladioli, Brezhnev heartily embraced Ceausescu and bussed him three times on the cheeks. The Rumanian's face remained impassive throughout the whole performance. After all, to be kissed but not squeezed by the Russian bear was a small enough price to pay for independence.

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