over the ruin of Poland. On the last two days of July, Bush went to Moscow for a summit with
Gorbachov that centered on the signing of a treaty on reducing strategic armaments. Erstwhilecondominium partners Gorbachov and Primakov pressed for economic assistance and investments, (^)
but all that Bush was willing to offer was a vague committment to forward to Congress the trade
treaty of 1990, which would provide, if approved, for the extension of the Most Favored Nation
treatment to Moscow. Soviet black beret special forces units deliberately massacred six Lithuanian
border guards as Bush was arriving, but Bush maintained a pose of studied disinterest in thefreedom of the Baltics. And not only of the Baltics: after the sessions with Gorbachov were over, (^)
Bush went to Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine, where he rejected a private meeting with Ivan Drach,
the leader of the Rukh, the main opposition movement. In the Ukrainian capital on August 1,
"Chicken Kiev" Bush made his infamous speech in which he warned about the dangers inherent in
nationalism.
Bush's Kiev speech stands out in retrospect as compelling evidence of his relentless opposition to
anticommunist and antisoviet movements in the moribund Soviet empire, and of his relentless
desire to do evil. Typically, Bush quoted his idol, Theodore Roosevelt: "To be patronized is as
offensive as to be insulted. No one of us cares permanently to have someone else conscientiouslystriving to do him good. What- we want to work with that someone else for the good of both of us." (^)
Then Bush got to the heart of the matter, his diehard support for Gorbachov and the imperial edifice
erected by Lenin and Stalin: " Some people have urged the United States to choose between
supporting President Gorbachov and supporting independence-minded leaders throughout the
USSR. I consider this a false choice." And then, the crowning insult to the Ukrainians, who hadbeen denied their nationhood for centuries: "...freedom is not the same as independence. Americans (^)
will not support those who seek in order to replace a far-off tyranny with a local despotism. They
will not aid those who promote a suicidal nationalism based upon ethnic hatred." [fn 93] It was an
insult the Ukrainians and other freedom fighters will not soon forget, and it had the benefit of
opening the eyes of more than a few as to what kind of bird this Bush really was.
Again Bush's policy was a recipe for destabilization, starvation, and war: he encouraged the
Kremlin to crack down, but offered no economic cooperation, insisting instead on IMF super-
austerity. During the third week after Bush had left Moscow, the abortive putsch of the Group of 8
took place. In the wake of the failed putsch, Bush was one of the last world leaders to announce therestoration of diplomatic relations with the Baltic states through the sending of an ambassador;
Bush had delayed for three additional days in response to an explicit request from Gorbachov. By
the time Bush had accepted Baltic freedom, it was September 2. Bush clung to Gorbachov long
after the latter had in fact ceased to exist. Gorbachov was gone by the end of 1991, and the
alternative rejected by Bush in Kiev turned out to have been the real one.
Soviet policy led the agenda when Major visited Bush at Kennebunkport at the end of August. The
two Anglo-Saxon champions proposed to offer the former USSR republics "practical help in
converting their economy into one that works," as Major put it. This translated into accelerating the
"special association" of the Soviet Union (and/or its successor states) with the IMF, "with a view tofull membership in due course for those who qualify" by virtue of their adoption of the disastrous
Polish model. Bush urged Americans to wait "until the dust settles" and until "there are more cards
on the table." "I got incidentally turned in for being testy," complained Bush about comment on his
previous remarks stressing indifference to personnel changes in Moscow. "And I'm wondering what
we're going to do for awas the Gulf." [fn 94] n encore next August, John," added Bush, "because last year, as you know, it
But for George Bush, the essence of the postwar months of 1991 was a succession of personal
triumphs, a succession which he hoped to extend all the way to the 1992 election. In mid-May,
Queen Elizabeth II visited Washington in the context of a tour of several American cities. In an