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- <text id=89TT2895>
- <title>
- Nov. 06, 1989: Grapevine
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- Nov. 06, 1989 The Big Break
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 35
- Grapevine
- </hdr><body>
- <p> BUSTED BROADSIDE. In a show of strength that could not help
- impressing the Soviets, the U.S. Navy deployed a 52-warship
- armada off the coast of Okinawa last month. Most of the 24-hour
- exercise went off as planned, as A-6 bombers and A-7 fighters
- sank an old research vessel with laser-guided bombs and other
- targets were demolished by 20-mm cannons and Sidewinder
- missiles. The grand finale, however, was a dud. The battleships
- New Jersey and Missouri were supposed to fire simultaneous
- nine-barrel broadsides from their 16-in. guns. But the big blast
- was canceled when the New Jersey radioed that one of its barrels
- was fouled and unable to bang away.
- </p>
- <p> GRAVE OFFENSES. A well-connected Westerner has returned from a
- visit to China with a startling explanation for the animosity
- that developed between Deng Xiaoping and ousted Communist Party
- leader Zhao Ziyang in the months before last spring's student
- demonstrations. The grave of Zhao's mother was desecrated in
- September 1988, and his allies blamed Deng's supporters. In
- retaliation, they dug up a Deng family tomb in Sichuan province
- three days later. The bitterness flowing from these insults to
- ancestors poisoned the relationship between the two leaders and
- climaxed in Deng's forcing out Zhao for sympathizing with the
- protesters in Tiananmen Square.
- </p>
- <p> THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD. White House insiders are puzzled
- by Bill Bennett's decision to temporarily locate the Office of
- National Drug Control Policy far from the White House, on the
- edge of Washington's downtown. Reason: the building's other
- tenants are the consulate of Colombia and the Bank of Pakistan,
- two major source countries for illegal drugs that Bennett is
- trying to keep out of the U.S. "We realize this is not an ideal
- situation, and we don't plan to be here for long," says a
- Bennett aide.
- </p>
- <p> TINA'S TALE. The most scintillating part of ABC's exclusive
- interview with "Tina," a retired Vienna prostitute, was her
- allegation that Felix Bloch indulged in sadomasochistic sex.
- But the longer-term significance was Tina's claim that she
- testified before a Washington grand jury. Until now, there has
- been no confirmation that the Justice Department is moving
- formally against the suspected spy. Secretary of State James
- Baker would like to fire Bloch. But doing so might give Bloch
- grounds for a suit forcing the Government to disclose the
- sources of its evidence against him. The Government's reluctance
- to divulge that information has stalled a formal prosecution. </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
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