Russia: Static Defense

Communist jargon and classical music are the usual radio diet of the Soviet citizen. But during five years of U.S.-Soviet detente, listeners in the Soviet Union had a simple alternative. A flick of the dial pulled in Western news, commentary—and even the throbbing beat of hard rock music. Moscow's decision in June 1963 to abandon jamming Western programs was an indication of the U.S.S.R.'s interest in a rapprochement with the Western world. Now the jamming is on again.

Within hours of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia last August, the Western broadcasts that...

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