The Kremlin’s worst nightmare
‘Condoleezza Rice drafted the National Security Council staff ’s best estimate for the president of where Gorbachev stood on German reunifi cation, which they thought “would rip the heart out of the Soviet security system”. Their “worst nightmare”, Rice wrote, was of a reunified Germany allied with NATO that would lead to a disintegration of the Warsaw Pact and move the Soviet line of defence back to the Ukrainian border. To avoid alarming Gorbachev, Bush did not push hard or fast for reunification at the summit.’
‘Condoleezza Rice: an American Life’ by Elisabeth Bumiller
Bush’s artful diplomacy
‘At Malta, Bush was artful in reassuring Gorbachev that if he reformed his society, let the satellites go their own way, and withdrew Soviet forces around the world, the United State would not see it as weakness on the part of the USSR or use it to gain an advantage. ’
Voices from the 1989 Malta summit
