disinterest in the freedom 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 conscientiously striving 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 had been 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 the restoration 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 to full 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 an encore next August, John," added Bush,
"because last year, as you know, it was the Gulf." [fn 94]