Last week Soviet troop planes swooped into Yerevan, capital of the Armenian republic. The soldiers who alighted and began patrolling the streets with tanks and armored vehicles were charged with a delicate mission: to calm the latest and most volatile outburst of ethnic unrest so far in Armenia and the % neighboring republic of Azerbaijan. The show of force indicated that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was eager to halt the regional conflict, which has become an embarrassing distraction from his goal of reforming Soviet political and economic life, as well as a potential weapon in the hands of his enemies.
The...
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