424 THE END OF THE COLD WAR
from Poland sat the communist President Jaruzelski and his liberal
and Catholic Prime Minister Mazowiecki. Gone was Honecker. In his
place sat Egon Krenz along with Hans Modrow representing a German
Democratic Republic that few expected to last much longer. Ceauşescu,
furious and nervous in equal measure, was the only communist vet-
eran still in power.^35 Gorbachëv decided to act as if all this was a
perfectly normal congregation for the celebration of an extraordinary
event: the end of the Cold War.^36 He gave a garbled version of his talks
with the Americans. Purportedly Bush had agreed that the Warsaw
Pact and NATO should provide the foundation of stability and secu-
rity in Europe. Changes were to happen but slowly.^37 He claimed that
Bush had admitted: ‘We were wrong about Najibullah’s government.’
The American President had even criticized Israel. Gorbachëv said
that when Bush brought up the Baltic and south Caucasus republics,
he had pointed out that Moscow had refrained from undermining the
American Constitution or supporting breakaway movements in
Quebec and Ulster.^38 On the German question, he claimed that Bush
had acknowledged that the West European leaderships were now
closer to the USSR than to America.^39
Gorbachëv presented his vision for a universal settlement of world
affairs: ‘Now, when the changes in our countries have attained such a
scale, we must definitely speak out. We are for the elimination of
blocks, but we get approaches even from the West with the request not
to ask to stay on the road that we have taken.’^40 A tea interval was
called, and Gorbachëv repeated his case while chatting to the dele-
gations. He turned his charm on everyone except Ceauşescu, who held
himself rigid and apart as he waited for someone to come over and
talk to him. No one did.^41
After refreshments, Bulgaria’s Petar Mladenov thanked Gorbachëv
for his report – ever the little Bulgarian brother of the Russian leader.
Hungary’s Resző Nyers was less compliant and urged Gorbachëv to
recognize that Comecon’s day was over. Hans Modrow of East Ger-
many revealed what he knew about Kohl’s latest moves towards
uniting the two Germanies in a confederation. Jaruzelski praised
Gorbachëv for his encounter with Pope John Paul. (Bizarrely, he also
called for the strengthening of Comecon.) What agitated Jaruzelski
was the recent talk about a new German confederation. Ceauşescu
could contain himself no longer. He exclaimed that Bush was boasting
about the Malta summit as a moral and political victory for NATO; in
flat contradiction of Gorbachëv, he said that world politics had become