Crisis in the Kremlin - Our 1988 USSR
Chapter Twenty Five: The April 9th Tragedy and the Letter of the Six (February 1989-May 1989)
(The body of Emperor Shōwa is carried to its tomb)
The State Funeral of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) was held on the 24th February 1989. It put an end to a monumental period in Japanese history – the Shōwa Era – which was marked by both Japan’s ascent and decline as a world power. At the beginning of his reign, Shōwa presided over a militaristic and authoritarian Japanese Empire, emboldened by its conquest of Russian and German colonies in Asia. A decade after his accession Japan would invade China, using the staged Mukden Incident as justification for its actions, an act that Shōwa sponsored personally. The Japanese government, and subsequently Emperor Shōwa himself, made every effort to portray the invasion of China as an ‘Incident’ rather than an invasion as to not have international laws regulate Japan’s military conduct. Shōwa personally issued orders to utilise chemical weapons multiple times during the conflict and also issued a decree authorising the expansion of the infamous Unit 731, whose brutality is often compared to, or even claimed to exceed, the German SS units. In the aftermath of the Second World War and Japan’s defeat, Emperor Shōwa was forced by US occupation forces to publicly declare his humanity, denouncing his own divinity, the basis of Imperial rule in Japan since 660 BC, that the Imperial house was descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu, and that the Emperor was her incarnation. In the post-war period, Emperor Shōwa was reduced to little more than a figurehead. He often made appearances at public events and performed in the roles of a constitutional monarch; however, he held no real power.
At 9:35 AM a black hearse carrying the body of Emperor Shōwa left the Imperial Palace, accompanied by a sixty car procession, for the two-mile drive to Shinjuku Gyoen Garden, where all Japanese Emperors had been interned since Emperor Taishō. Over 800,000 spectators lined the route of the procession, and 32,000 special police officers were mobilised for the event. Upon arrival to Shinjuku Gyoen Garden, the Emperor was interned in his coffin, and the funeral rites were conducted. After the rites were complete, the state funeral began. A minute of silence was held across Japan, after which a eulogy was delivered, and foreign delegations were allowed to pay their respects at the altar. Both US President George H.W Bush and Soviet General Secretary Romanov attended the state funeral of Emperor Shōwa. The attendance of General Secretary Romanov was a shock to the Western world, the USSR and Japan, while growing closer over the past decade, were still greatly at odds with each other, especially over the disputed Kuril Islands. General Secretary Romanov was the only head of state from a socialist nation to attend the funeral and many nations of the Eastern Bloc, such as Romania, refused outright to send delegates. Japanese-Soviet relations warmed considerably after the event; however, the Japanese government maintained their position that no official cooperation with the USSR could take place until the issue of the Kuril Islands was firmly resolved.
The Eurovision Song Contest 1989 was held on the 6th May 1989 in the Palais de Beaulieu, Lausanne, Switzerland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR). The winner of the contest was Yugoslavia, with their hit song “Rock Me” composed by Yugoslavian songwriter Rajko Dujmić, written by Stevo Cvikić and performed by Yugoslavian band Riva. This was Yugoslavia’s first contest victory in their twenty-five years competing in the competition, and it brought international attention to Yugoslav artists and the developing rock music scene in the country. “Rock Me” was also popularised by the contest victory, and it quickly became a hit in the Eastern Bloc. The popularity of the music as well as a rapidly developing interest in western music within the USSR led to renewed interest within the USSR in Eurovision, as well as the now defunct Intervision, a communist alternative held sporadically in the Eastern Bloc.
The Letter of the Six was an open letter addressed to Nicolae Ceaușescu signed by six former high-ranking members of the Romanian Communist Party in March 1989. These six were: Gheorghe Apostol, Alexandru Bârlădeanu, Silviu Brucan, Corneliu Mănescu, Constantin Pîrvulescu and Grigore Răceanu. The six politicians had met in early 1988 in a Bucharest park to discuss a united initiative against Romanian communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu. They continued to meet in secret, in parks and public places to avoid surveillance by the Romanian secret police – the Securitate. In his memoirs, Silviu Brucan claimed that he had come up with the initiative, and alongside Apostol began conspiring against Ceaușescu. Their plan was to write an open letter to Ceaușescu, denouncing his leadership and calling for his resignation. Despite this initial plan, it became quickly apparent to the six that they would not be able to gather enough signatures to threaten Ceaușescu, and Bârlădeanu later claimed that Brucan acted alone, that the other five signatories had pulled out their support months before, and that they did not want Brucan to gather support from western nations. Regardless, Brucan visited the embassy of the United States, and secured permission from the Romanian government to visit the USA in June 1988. The US Department of State was enthusiastic about the idea and advised him to publish it after returning to Romania. After receiving support from the US government, Brucan then travelled to the United Kingdom, giving talks at Oxford and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, as well as having meetings at the British Foreign Office to discuss British support for his plan. Finally, Brucan travelled to Moscow to meet Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Gorbachev, in an hour-long meeting, where Brucan received assurances that should Brucan and his co-conspirators succeed in rallying the Romanian Communist Party against Ceaușescu, the USSR would not intervene. Upon his return from Moscow, Brucan was arrested by the Securitate at the border, however he was let go. The Letter of the Six was broadcasted on Radio Free Europe, BBC Radio, and the Voice of America. Addressed to Ceaușescu, it was a left-wing critique of his policies and his government and compared Romania’s economic situation to Africa. Immediately after it’s publication, all six of the letter’s signatories were arrested by the Securitate and were denounced as foreign agents.
(Protesters gather on Rustaveli Avenue, demanding the restoration of the Georgian Democratic Republic)
The April 9th Tragedy, or the April 9th Massacre, refers to the police handling of a protest-turned-riot in Tbilisi, Georgia, 1989. In the previous years, the various independence and nationalist groups found across the USSR had emerged from the shadows and became an established political force, thanks to the political reforms of General Secretary Romanov. 1988 especially saw a surge in anti-Soviet political activity, as new reforms allowed for the creation of recognised political organisations outside of the CPSU, as well as formalised processes for them to organise demonstrations. One of the major Georgian nationalist organisations – the Georgian Unity League (GUL) took advantage of new demonstration reforms to organise a protest in the early days of April, however they could not come to an agreement with local authorities on the duration of the protest, as local authorities refused to allow them to protest for more than a week, nor to protest along central streets, fearing disruption to city infrastructure. Regardless, the GUL went ahead with its plans to protest. On the morning of April 4th, thousands of Georgians gathered on Rustaveli Avenue, the man thoroughfare of Tbilisi, to protest against “Soviet occupation”. Despite the demonstration’s illegal nature, authorities did not disperse the protesters, fearing igniting a riot. By April 9th, the protests had grown to seven-thousand strong and were becoming more tense by the hour, despite the best efforts of the authorities to contain the demonstration without using force the situation had become untenable. On the morning of April 9th, at 3:45AM, local militsiya accompanied by contingents of the Soviet Armed Forces, established a cordon around the area of demonstration with orders to disperse the protesters by any means necessary. It would later be claimed that protesters had attacked first with rocks and metal chains, however accounts vary. The government forces, allegedly in response to this aggression, attacked the protesters with batons and in the case of the military, spades. One of the victims, a sixteen year old girl, tried to run away from the advancing police and military, but was chased down and beaten to death. Her body was dragged from the scene from her mother, who was also seriously wounded. The attack was recorded on video by locals from the balcony of a nearby building and was widely spread in the aftermath of the incident. CS gas was also used against fleeing protesters, which in severe causes caused permanent paralysis or even death from respiratory problems. The stampede of escaping protesters following the attack killed a further nineteen people, autopsies conducted later concluded that, with the exception of one, all had died by suffocation compounded by the use of CS gas. The sheer brutality of the protest’s suppression, as well as the cruelty and malice displayed by members of the Soviet Armed Forces in pursuing protesters shocked the world.
The United Front of Burmese Peoples (UFBP) was a political alliance founded between the Burmese Communist Party and the National Democratic Front on May 4th 1989. The National Democratic Front (NDF) was a splinter group from the socialist National Democratic United Front (NDUF), a merger of the communist BCP and the ethnic interest Karen National Union (KNU). The KNU and the BCP were originally enemies, as the BCP regarded the KNU as ethnic reactionaries aimed at destabilising Burma for bourgeois interests, however, overtime the KNU slowly shifted towards Maoist ideology, isolating it from it’s former allies. In 1959 a military alliance was formed between the two in the form of the NDUF, which later came to include other parties as well as the KNU and BCP, such as the New Mon State Party (NMSP). The NDUF lasted until 1976, when KNU broke away from the BCP to form the aforementioned National Democratic Front (NDF). The NDUF had been plagued with infighting from its conception, especially on the issue of ethnic autonomies for Burma’s various peoples, with the BCP wishing to establish a unitary Burmese state, and the KNU wishing to implement federalism. In the wake of the 8888 uprising, with Soviet support secured, the BCP again reached out to its former comrades in the NDF to form a united front against the ruling military council. The establishment of the UFBP also included the formation of a common armed wing, as the forces of the NDF and other ethnic resistance groups were folded into the communist People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Shipments of weapons from the USSR have already arrived in UFBP forward bases in India, and it seems a new armed campaign will begin in the near future.
Votes of the Day:
Should the USSR reenter negotiations on the Kuril Islands?
A) No, these lands are integrally Soviet and the Japanese have no claim to them
B) Yes, the USSR does not need the Kuril Islands and we have far more to gain from ceding them
C) Other
Should the USSR restablish Intervision?
A) Yes, this will strengthen bonds between our nations and bolster our cultural expression
B) Yes, but in a reduced form, only allow European nations to take part
C) No, we should instead petition to join Eurovision
D) No, this is a distraction
E) Other
How should state media portray the April 9th Tragedy in Tbilisi?
A) Admit the fault of the Militsiya and Military in attacking civilians in full and condemn them
B) Admit "Individual errors" in the handling of the incident and find scapegoats
C) Admit no blame and instead blame it on the aggression of the protesters
D) Other
(OPEN QUESTION) How should the USSR limit police brutality in future?
(OPEN QUESTION) What, if any, action should be taken in response to the Letter of the Six?
Should the USSR reenter negotiations on the Kuril Islands?
A) No, these lands are integrally Soviet and the Japanese have no claim to them
B) Yes, the USSR does not need the Kuril Islands and we have far more to gain from ceding them
C) Other
Should the USSR restablish Intervision?
A) Yes, this will strengthen bonds between our nations and bolster our cultural expression
B) Yes, but in a reduced form, only allow European nations to take part
C) No, we should instead petition to join Eurovision
D) No, this is a distraction
E) Other
How should state media portray the April 9th Tragedy in Tbilisi?
A) Admit the fault of the Militsiya and Military in attacking civilians in full and condemn them
B) Admit "Individual errors" in the handling of the incident and find scapegoats
C) Admit no blame and instead blame it on the aggression of the protesters
D) Other
(OPEN QUESTION) How should the USSR limit police brutality in future?
(OPEN QUESTION) What, if any, action should be taken in response to the Letter of the Six?
Sorry for it being a tad late, I got dragged out to the pub and didn't have time to publish last night
A - The USSR has attempted to work with Japan on this matter in the past in order to find a compromise, and Japan has rejected those offers each time. We can not allow ourselves to be bullied into giving up territories we control, just because another country says they have a better claim.
C - The Cold War may be continuing, but we can always take steps to look like we are reducing tensions. Joining Eurovision would be a good PR tool for that. Even if it doesn’t really mean anything in the long run.
D - We can blame the protesters for starting the violence, but alongside that we can say that “some select individuals” went too far in policing them.
I would like to support the current Romanian government, and not the Six. But yet again Gorbachev goes above his remit, and says things he should not. First he lied about Solidarity, and now he gives promises to rebellious elements of foreign governments without involving the General Secretary of the USSR. He should be thrown out from the government.
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1 - A, Japan lost the Kurils when it lost the war, so there is nothing to negotiate.
2 - C, will be good for promoting Soviet culture, while allowing it to become known outside the communist nations.
3 - B, violence is undeniable, so it will be necessary to offer the most brutal, the most bloodthirsty as scapegoats, while re-examining the action protocols.
1st open question: It is time to reexamine the action protocols of the authorities. It is unacceptable that a demonstration turns into a massacre.
Change anti-riot equipment for others that are less dangerous to human life and integrity.
2nd open question. It is a dangerous situation, on the one hand the situation in Romania is not optimal, and could explode, but on the other hand, supporting these signatories could set a dangerous precedent in the Soviet Union. Therefore, I suggest that you express support for Ceaușescu, but demanding that he make reforms and take into account the petitions presented, privately censure Gorbachev for his actions, and inform the signatories that although the Soviet Union sympathized with them, and could having given them help, having gone to the Soviet rivals, they lost any kind of help. But at the same time, it would be good for them to intervene to mitigate the actions of the Securitasen, and for them to be confined to house arrest.
2 - C, will be good for promoting Soviet culture, while allowing it to become known outside the communist nations.
3 - B, violence is undeniable, so it will be necessary to offer the most brutal, the most bloodthirsty as scapegoats, while re-examining the action protocols.
1st open question: It is time to reexamine the action protocols of the authorities. It is unacceptable that a demonstration turns into a massacre.
Change anti-riot equipment for others that are less dangerous to human life and integrity.
2nd open question. It is a dangerous situation, on the one hand the situation in Romania is not optimal, and could explode, but on the other hand, supporting these signatories could set a dangerous precedent in the Soviet Union. Therefore, I suggest that you express support for Ceaușescu, but demanding that he make reforms and take into account the petitions presented, privately censure Gorbachev for his actions, and inform the signatories that although the Soviet Union sympathized with them, and could having given them help, having gone to the Soviet rivals, they lost any kind of help. But at the same time, it would be good for them to intervene to mitigate the actions of the Securitasen, and for them to be confined to house arrest.
I told you guys it was not worth attending the funeral of this imperialist.
Comrade Stalin who lead the USSR against the fascists, saving countless Slavs, Jews and workers from genocide, is a Georgian. These so called nationalists are nothing more than opportunistic power hungry scum.
The protestors are likely the ones who killed her. They became violent and even more aggressive once they saw how restrained our great police and military conducted themselves. They likely dressed up some of their own protestors and did the act. The fact that they even recorded this shows even more proof.
Votes:
1) A. The Japanese fascists simply desire to finish their ethnic cleansing of the Ainus. They hate that the native populations are thriving and they failed their ethnocide which is why they want to conquer the Kuril islands.
2) A. We must create our own socialist culture. We cannot allow the capitalists to export their exploitive culture which normalises commodification of women and exploitation of the workers! We can do this by creating our own contests, music, film, game awards/contests that are socialist.
3) D. Intially admit individual fault of some soliders/police and investigate them. Ensure none of the names of our loyal troops that are being investigated are leaked. Then once it is found that they conducted themselves with utmost restraint make the KGB reveal that the leaders of the protest are descendants of Nazi collaborators or they are corrupt and taking money from external enemies (CIA). Reveal this evidence to the public.
The revolution is under threat comrades! The CIA has likely infiltrated our society and is attempting to conduct a "colour revolution". We must take action against these traitors!
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1)
There is no "police brutality" in our great socialist nation. This is a capitalist phenomenon. It occurs because the police are the stick of the capitalists who are used to oppress the workers. Our police do not even carry loaded firearms, they have only a single revolver that is not loaded and they are mainly used to de-secalate situations. It is only in a hedonistic capitalist society in decline such as USA where the police are armed better than some militaries in the world that this violence takes place.
What happened in Georgia was nothing more than a color revolution where some bad actors mislead the proletariat using nationalism and then when their attempts at a counter revolution failed due to the great restraint of our police/soldiers, they attempted to start it by attacking them.
2)
Nicolae Ceaușescu is a revisionist. He banned abortion, started creating a cult of personality, and he is imposing austerity measures upon the workers due to the foreign debts Romania now has to pay back to the IMF/West. Until now these debts were not needed to be paid back because Romania was neutral/anti-soviet but now due to the improving relations between NATO and Warsaw Pact, the West is trying to get back their money.
Initially, he did improve the material conditions for the workers but now he has fully become revisionist, a tyrant, and is a traitor to the revolution. We shall fully support the Letter of the Six.
Demand their release and the resignation of Nicolae Ceaușescu. Tell the Romanians if this occurs we will invite Romania into the Warsaw pact and the USSR will take on the foreign debts of Romania. This will allow Romania to stop it's austerity policies and improve the life of the Romanian workers. This is the carrot.
As for our stick, if they refuse cease all trade with Romania and begin support true revolutionaries and create a new vanguard in Romania to lead the workers.
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Should the USSR restablish Intervision?
A) Yes, this will strengthen bonds between our nations and bolster our cultural expression
A) Yes, this will strengthen bonds between our nations and bolster our cultural expression
Should the USSR reenter negotiations on the Kuril Islands?
A/C) No, these lands are integrally Soviet and the Japanese have no claim to them
Surrendering Soviet territory for the sake of appeasing Axis imperialist irredentism is not acceptable.
However we do want deeper ties with Japan, so see if we can work through the business leaders investing in the USSR to persuade their friends in the LDP to be more pragmatic in order to further economic opportunities. We really only need them to downplay the Kuriles as a background grumble or agree to kick the ball down the road, rather than outright renounce the claim.
Should the USSR restablish Intervision?
E) Other
Petition to join Eurovision AND revive Intervision.
The expense is comparatively is mild and the two festivals can serve convergent purposes to promote our culture globally, engage with many other countries and of course keep the people happy with pro-soviet entertainment. We can't deny the allure of Eurovision among the young, and Intervision has great potential as a truly global music event particularly as we have better relations with the likes of China and Yugoslavia (can we get Riva as a headline act for the revival if it's very soon?). One suspects that Soviet contestants that do well in one have a good chance of appearing in the other. And anything that promotes solidarity (not Solidarity) among the Warsaw Pact is a good thing.*
How should state media portray the April 9th Tragedy in Tbilisi?
B) Admit "Individual errors" in the handling of the incident and find scapegoats
As I feared, "Freedom of Assembly *with caveats" had the effect of emboldening dissent that abuses and exceeds the boundaries set. We must expect similar in the future. If the situation had not been filmed a blanket denial could have worked but we need to respond by making sure the blame is directed at individuals and not the state. We can partially counter-balance by parading any protesters with serious prior convictions as the equivalent bad apples pushing the protests to riot.
(OPEN QUESTION) How should the USSR limit police brutality in future?
Substantial retraining of Militsiya riot units and relevant Internal Troops for containing protests in a clean(er) fashion. Study foreign police to identify the best methods compatible with our situation. That includes the command structure so the troops are given the right orders to prevent rather than create a major incident. This was the result of systemic human failures, not inadequate equipment or individual errors. All the less-lethal riot dispersal toys in the world mean little if the militsiya are using less-lethal tear gas to cause a deadly stampede and their less-lethal batons to beat children to death on camera.
There also needs to be a much more robust system of (internal) accountability or at least the understanding that a problem for the Minister of the Interior is a problem for them. Suggestion that will not break the bank or cause a mutiny, Comrades?
(OPEN QUESTION) What, if any, action should be taken in response to the Letter of the Six?
In seperate post.
A/C) No, these lands are integrally Soviet and the Japanese have no claim to them
Surrendering Soviet territory for the sake of appeasing Axis imperialist irredentism is not acceptable.
However we do want deeper ties with Japan, so see if we can work through the business leaders investing in the USSR to persuade their friends in the LDP to be more pragmatic in order to further economic opportunities. We really only need them to downplay the Kuriles as a background grumble or agree to kick the ball down the road, rather than outright renounce the claim.
Should the USSR restablish Intervision?
E) Other
Petition to join Eurovision AND revive Intervision.
The expense is comparatively is mild and the two festivals can serve convergent purposes to promote our culture globally, engage with many other countries and of course keep the people happy with pro-soviet entertainment. We can't deny the allure of Eurovision among the young, and Intervision has great potential as a truly global music event particularly as we have better relations with the likes of China and Yugoslavia (can we get Riva as a headline act for the revival if it's very soon?). One suspects that Soviet contestants that do well in one have a good chance of appearing in the other. And anything that promotes solidarity (not Solidarity) among the Warsaw Pact is a good thing.*
How should state media portray the April 9th Tragedy in Tbilisi?
B) Admit "Individual errors" in the handling of the incident and find scapegoats
As I feared, "Freedom of Assembly *with caveats" had the effect of emboldening dissent that abuses and exceeds the boundaries set. We must expect similar in the future. If the situation had not been filmed a blanket denial could have worked but we need to respond by making sure the blame is directed at individuals and not the state. We can partially counter-balance by parading any protesters with serious prior convictions as the equivalent bad apples pushing the protests to riot.
(OPEN QUESTION) How should the USSR limit police brutality in future?
Substantial retraining of Militsiya riot units and relevant Internal Troops for containing protests in a clean(er) fashion. Study foreign police to identify the best methods compatible with our situation. That includes the command structure so the troops are given the right orders to prevent rather than create a major incident. This was the result of systemic human failures, not inadequate equipment or individual errors. All the less-lethal riot dispersal toys in the world mean little if the militsiya are using less-lethal tear gas to cause a deadly stampede and their less-lethal batons to beat children to death on camera.
There also needs to be a much more robust system of (internal) accountability or at least the understanding that a problem for the Minister of the Interior is a problem for them. Suggestion that will not break the bank or cause a mutiny, Comrades?
(OPEN QUESTION) What, if any, action should be taken in response to the Letter of the Six?
In seperate post.
1) A. I said it before and I say it again, Japan had the chance to negotiate for the islands and refused. We are under no obligation to offer again.
2) Yes, reestablish Intervision.
3) B. Hang the most brutal out to dry and try to salvage the rest.
4)I agree with @Odo.
5) I agree with @Empress_Boogalaboo and @ruffino.
1.A
2.B
3.B
4.support to @ ruffino suggestions.
5.It’s time to get out of Ceausescu, the revisionist who tried to emulate the Kim family in North Korea and turn Romania into a hereditary system. We should support the Letter of the Six. The drafters of this letter were committed communists and we need not worry about their loyalty.
2.B
3.B
4.support to @ ruffino suggestions.
5.It’s time to get out of Ceausescu, the revisionist who tried to emulate the Kim family in North Korea and turn Romania into a hereditary system. We should support the Letter of the Six. The drafters of this letter were committed communists and we need not worry about their loyalty.
A. I see no reason to negotiate about lands we honestly won during WW2. What is Soviet shall remain Soviet. What next, are we supposed to negotiate Kaliningrad with the Germans? Our good will has its limits.
Not to mention the Islands are strategically important allowing us full control over the Okhotsk Sea and open way from Vladivostok to the Pacific Ocean.
C. We and other socialist countries should share our cultural wealth with the West. It will be one of many ways to show the power of the socialist system. It will help to strengthen our contacts with many progressive forces in Europe. And we should show the West that their opinion about the Eastern Bloc being sad, grey and monotonous is simply false. Our people has access to rich culture and good, tasteful entertainment.
A combination of B and C, actually. The protesters did break the law and did initiate violence. It caused several members of militsiya and soldiers, including the officers, to overreact and break the law too. USSR has no tolerance policy towards breaking the law, whoever does it. So yes, there will be public trials both for protesters and for some militsiya and army members (officers too), with harsh punishment at the end. The death of that misguided girl was a tragedy, and Soviet justice will deal with those responsible, on both sides. The mother, while certainly guilty of getting her daughter involved in an illegal action, should be pardoned. She suffered enough.
And it shows that soldiers should not be used against riots. They are simply neither trained nor equipped to deal with protesters (especially aggresive ones) without resorting to excessive violence (come on, shovels? Seriously?). Leave such things to militsiya special units and KGB troops. Army should be used only in case of armed insurrection.
You break the law, you shall be arrested. You resist, the militsiya should use force. However there should be no permanent damage, no mutilation, and certainly no death, unless in extreme cases (like against an armed criminal). Anything else is acceptable, within reason, of course. You should not beat a misbehaving kid with a batons stick, even if he is crying and trying to escape (but if he has a knife, that is a different matter at all).
I think there should be a special training for all militsiya about acceptable level of force (see above), with the most excessive cases of abuse severely and publicly punished. OTOH, some of those cases should be dismissed, so the militisya has no its hands tied.
And again, DO NOT use regular soldiers against protesters, unless in most desperate and dangerous cases. The Soviet Army is a powerful hammer in the hand of the people, but not every problem is a nail. We have militsiya special units (OMON) and KGB, they supposed to deal with such cases. And they should be trained to do so efficiently, but without excesses. The Soviet law is harsh, but just and fair.
I agree with @ruffino . However, if Ceausescu refuses to introduce necessary reforms, it might be time to prepare for some changes in Romania... under our control, naturally. For the good of the Romanian people and all the Eastern Bloc.
Should the USSR reenter negotiations on the Kuril Islands?
A) The Japanese have in the past refused the chance to negotiate for these islands and so there is little reason for us to feel obliged to extend the offer again.
Should the USSR restablish Intervision?
C)We can engage with the European countries and share some of our cultural wealth this way, perhaps in a small way going to improve relations and dispel some of the misperceptions regarding the grey, dull monotone nature of the Eastern Bloc.
How should state media portray the April 9th Tragedy in Tbilisi?
B) Those most directly responsible and the most brutal should be punished, hopefully enough to satisfy a need for justice to be seen to be done.
(OPEN QUESTION) How should the USSR limit police brutality in future?
I'll add my support to the suggestions of @ruffino and @Odo
(OPEN QUESTION) What, if any, action should be taken in response to the Letter of the Six?
I'll add my agreement to @ruffino's suggestion.
A) The Japanese have in the past refused the chance to negotiate for these islands and so there is little reason for us to feel obliged to extend the offer again.
Should the USSR restablish Intervision?
C)We can engage with the European countries and share some of our cultural wealth this way, perhaps in a small way going to improve relations and dispel some of the misperceptions regarding the grey, dull monotone nature of the Eastern Bloc.
How should state media portray the April 9th Tragedy in Tbilisi?
B) Those most directly responsible and the most brutal should be punished, hopefully enough to satisfy a need for justice to be seen to be done.
(OPEN QUESTION) How should the USSR limit police brutality in future?
I'll add my support to the suggestions of @ruffino and @Odo
(OPEN QUESTION) What, if any, action should be taken in response to the Letter of the Six?
I'll add my agreement to @ruffino's suggestion.
(OPEN QUESTION) What, if any, action should be taken in response to the Letter of the Six?
As Comrade @ruffino said, this is a dangerous situation liable to explode, and I broadly agree with their suggestions.
What is our goal at present?
I would argue our first priority has to be the SRR's continued (nominal) membership of the Warsaw Pact. While ideally that would be effective participation under a more co-operative leader the abject failure of the conspiracy leaves Ceaușescu in power so we must work with what we have. If Romania reacts poorly to our efforts, take advantage of Sino-Soviet rapprochement and ask Beijing to quietly mediate with them.
Do we have any intelligence about how Romanov's USSR is perceived in Romania?
Should the USSR restablish Intervision?
(Addendum- A)
If we must choose, Intervision should be the primary focus.
It's far from certain that admission into Eurovision would be granted anyway. It will be a shame though to miss out on Terry Wogan's commentary on the no doubt memorable year the USSR joined the contest. If Intervision is successful then there is the possibility of exchanging guest entries with Eurovision, that could in turn be a foot in the door for regular participation in the future.
As Comrade @ruffino said, this is a dangerous situation liable to explode, and I broadly agree with their suggestions.
What is our goal at present?
I would argue our first priority has to be the SRR's continued (nominal) membership of the Warsaw Pact. While ideally that would be effective participation under a more co-operative leader the abject failure of the conspiracy leaves Ceaușescu in power so we must work with what we have. If Romania reacts poorly to our efforts, take advantage of Sino-Soviet rapprochement and ask Beijing to quietly mediate with them.
Do we have any intelligence about how Romanov's USSR is perceived in Romania?
Should the USSR restablish Intervision?
(Addendum- A)
If we must choose, Intervision should be the primary focus.
It's far from certain that admission into Eurovision would be granted anyway. It will be a shame though to miss out on Terry Wogan's commentary on the no doubt memorable year the USSR joined the contest. If Intervision is successful then there is the possibility of exchanging guest entries with Eurovision, that could in turn be a foot in the door for regular participation in the future.