420 THE END OF THE COLD WAR
for his draft law on freedom of conscience in the USSR. Gorbachëv
said he hoped that his country and Poland would remain friends. The
Pope thanked him ‘in the name of my Motherland’. He also promised
to do nothing to destabilize perestroika. This was important for Gor-
bachëv. If the Roman Catholic Church were to join the resistance to
the Kremlin, Lithuania would surely go up in a fire of revolt. Gor-
bachëv made a brave effort to thank him in Polish for his hospitality
and good wishes. This was a bridge too far for the patriotic Pole, who
corrected the Russian’s mistakes. They still managed to talk by them-
selves for ten minutes before inviting the help of interpreters again.
The occasion ended on a bright note with Gorbachëv inviting John
Paul to Moscow, where no Pope had set foot.^15
The planning staff omitted to seek advice from meteorologists. The
records of decades showed that the sea around Malta could be very
rough in midwinter. As the Soviet and American cruisers dropped
anchor near Valletta, the worst possibilities were realized. A storm
blew up that was going to last for several days.
Gorbachëv and Bush flew into Valletta with large complements of
officials. The Soviet team included Eduard Shevardnadze, Alexander
Yakovlev, Sergei Akhromeev, Alexander Bessmertnykh, Anatoli Dobry-
nin and Anatoli Chernyaev. Bush brought James Baker, Brent Scow-
croft, John Sununu, Denis Ross, Bob Blackwill and Jack Matlock. The
first session was scheduled for 2 December 1989 on the Soviet passen-
ger liner Maxim Gorki. Bush suggested that he and Gorbachev should
meet with only their interpreters and aides in attendance – the Ameri-
cans hoped to reinforce the movement towards agreement on
contentious matters. This was how Gorbachëv had proceeded at sum-
mits. Now it was Bush who was hurrying things along. Gorbachëv did
not mind: he wanted to get to know Bush better and attain the atmo-
sphere of confidence he had enjoyed with Reagan. He agreed to sit
down with Bush in the neighbouring room for their initial discussion.^16
Gorbachëv started with a remark on growing disquiet in the USSR to
American armed activity in the Philippines, Panama and Colombia.
When Bush tried to brush this aside, Gorbachëv interjected that people
were talking of the replacement of the Brezhnev Doctrine with the
Bush Doctrine; he expressed a preference for the peaceful resolution of
difficulties. He mentioned that many people in the Soviet Union felt
that the Politburo had renounced ideas about the ‘export of revolution’,
only to experience ‘the export of American values’.^17
When they returned to the general room for a plenary session,