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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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082889
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08288900.029
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1990-09-17
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WORLD, Page 27World NotesSOVIET UNIONThe Baltics Set the Agenda
Estonia, one of the restive Baltic republics where perestroika
and glasnost have spawned independence movements, was rebuked by
the highest level of government last week. The Presidium of the
Supreme Soviet said Estonia violated the Soviet constitution by
imposing a two-year residence requirement on voters in local
elections. Estonia's Russian minority called the act
discriminatory, and 40,000 Russian workers went on strike.
It is not certain, though, that Estonia has lost the fight.
The Presidium simply sent the electoral law back to the Estonian
parliament for review. And in a semi-bow to Baltic sensibilities,
Politburo member Alexander Yakovlev confirmed that the 1939
Nazi-Soviet pacts secretly assigned the three states to Moscow's
sphere of influence on the eve of World War II. But he denied this
had any bearing on the status of the republics, which Moscow
annexed in 1940 as members of the U.S.S.R.
Officially recognizing that such nationalities issues are
"acute," the Kremlin last week proposed a policy that would grant
increased autonomy to all 15 republics and rewrite the 1922 treaty
creating the Soviet Union and defining the rights and obligations
of its republics. "Recent events," said the proposal, show "a need
for radical transformations in the Soviet federation." Specifics
are to be discussed at a special Central Committee plenum next
month. It will be another risky venture for President Mikhail
Gorbachev, aimed at resolving the nationalities problem without
curtailing his reform program -- or his hold on power.