Political Quotes

“Well, right now, Dwayne, as you well know, why, we have some big problems. And you've seen the EC pull back within the last few days on some of their trade breaks for the Soviet Union. You see the pressure mounting in our Congress for me to pull back on most-favored- nation and on the moderate steps that we took to include the Soviets or to encourage the Soviets to join some of the international financial organizations. And that stems from the fact that there is this visible repression against the Baltic States. A little history: We have never recognized the incorporation of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union. And so we have enormous problems when we see force used against those three Republics. And it is a big problem. And it concerns me deeply, it concerns the American people deeply. And there are certain constraints on what we can do in moving forward until we get satisfied that this was an anomaly and not a new way of life. Mr. Gorbachev faces enormous problems inside the Soviet Union. You've heard suggestions that--maybe you heard the press conference yesterday--the tone of some of the questions: ``Well, you ought to start dealing with other leaders.'' He's the President of the Soviet Union. He has done wonderful things in terms of reunification of Germany, in terms of getting out--of freeing up the Eastern European countries. But he's faced with big problems. And these are internal affairs of the Soviet Union that I've got to be a little careful discussing. But for the United States standpoint, we've got to see that no more force will be used against these Baltic States and that there can be peaceful resolution to these questions. Otherwise, not only will our trade relations be set back, as they are now being set back in some European countries, but the rest of our overall relationship could undergo a problem. I don't want that. They have been steadfast in support of our objectives in the Gulf. And that is very, very important. They have lightened up on their sending military equipment into this hemisphere, a problem we have always had. We're having cooperative work with them in terms of freedom in Angola. So, it is to our interest to work closely with the Soviets for many things. But when we see a repression in the Baltics, it is very hard to have business as usual, say nothing about trying to catch up. So I'm very hopeful that the representations that were made to us when Mr. Bessmertnykh was here will prove to be do-able by President Gorbachev, and I am hopeful that we can find a way to move this productive relationship forward. But I am not in a position at this juncture to say exactly what we can do more positive while we have this big problem of-- the human rights problem and the problem of this military crackdown in the Baltics. It puts us in a very difficult position, and I think the Soviet leaders know this. I've talked frankly to them about this, and I believe they know it. So, let's hope that these things can go forward with a peaceful resolution to the question of the Balts. Banking Reform”