In the Cold War the nuclear-missile standoff between the U.S. and USSR led to gargantuan stockpiles of another sort under a security doctrine known as Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD.
Lawson has announced his intention to depart on 11 January to head up the U.S. -Russia Business Council, the successor organization to the now-defunct U.S.-USSR Trade and Economic Council (USTEC).
How does the Bush Administration plan to justify any direct or contingent U.S. taxpayer risk exposure to the USSR when Moscow is currently in a severe payments crisis to Western suppliers, has not embarked on serious economic reform and refuses to disclose fundamental economic and financial data?
President Bush not only failed to secure Moscow's approval for a U.S. use of force, he was put on notice that the USSR would take strong exception to such use.
Press reports indicate that the USSR recently notified the United States that it would agree to a long-standing U.S. demand: that on-site inspections take place before such a treaty was finalized.