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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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051589
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05158900.056
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1990-09-22
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FROM THE PUBLISHER, Page 4
Glasnost may mean greater openness in the U.S.S.R., but it
isn't every day that you can drop in for tea with the Soviet
Foreign Minister. But last week Moscow bureau chief John Kohan and
correspondent Ann Blackman did, joining Eduard Shevardnadze in his
seventh-floor Kremlin office for tea and his first interview with
an American magazine. At one point Shevardnadze, graciously
offering a cup to Blackman, allowed that by his own count, he has
appeared in TIME on at least 40 occasions.
With this week's cover stories, make that at least 41. From
the inception of perestroika, our Moscow bureau has chronicled the
stunning make-over of the Soviet Union. For Blackman, who arrived
in 1987 after 17 years in Washington, delving into Gorbachev's odd
combination of internal imbroglios and dynamic foreign policy has
proved the opportunity of a lifetime. Says Blackman: "For a
reporter today, Moscow is the big rock-candy mountain. There's a
story on every street corner." Last month she and Kohan scoured the
country to report TIME's special issue on the "new" Soviet Union.
Shevardnadze called it a "fitting title." The 3,000 copies of the
magazine available in Moscow and Leningrad sold out in a couple of
days.
The Shevardnadze interview was the culmination of a week of
unprecedented access to the Foreign Ministry. The two spent 15
hours interviewing eight top diplomats and aides who offered
insights into the workings of both the Foreign Ministry and
Shevardnadze himself. In fact, the Soviets have become gluttons for
glasnost. One session, conducted in both Russian and English, took
eight hours. Says Blackman: "It was John and I who finally
suggested we call it a day." At another interview with a top
Shevardnadze staffer, Blackman was locked in the room to hear
everything the official had to say. "We can't take any chances,"
an aide explained sheepishly. No problem. We never run away from
a good story.