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<TITLE>January</TITLE>
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<CENTER><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+4">Events
of January 1997</FONT></FONT></FONT></CENTER>
<HR WIDTH="100%">
<CENTER><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">Anne
D. Baylon</FONT></FONT></FONT></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1"> </FONT></FONT></FONT></I></B></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">CENTRAL
EUROPE</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></B></CENTER>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0"> </FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Albania</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
19</B> Twenty-five hundred Albanians demonstrate in Tirana, asking the
government to reimburse them for the money they lost in pyramid schemes.
Over 15% of Albania's 3.2 million people have been victimized by the
schemes.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
25</B> Despite government promises to return to the investors frozen money
that had been deposited in banks through two bankrupt schemes, 2,000
protesters call for the resignation of President Berisha's government.
They physically attack a Cabinet member, Foreign Minister Tritan Shehu,
who is wounded.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
26</B> Throughout the country, tens of thousands of rioters battle
policemen and set fire to government offices.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
28</B> The governing Democratic Party tries to shift the responsibility
for the pyramid crisis to the Socialists, accusing them of supporting the
schemes and promoting unrest. For most Albanians, the government is to
blame for not warning the public about the dangers of pyramid schemes and
not regulating them.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Bulgaria</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
3 </B>In Sofia, tens of thousands of protesters demand that the ruling
Socialist Party give up its power and call for "elections now."
The party is in the process of choosing a new candidate for Prime Minister
after Socialist Prime Minister Zhan Videnov resigned in late December due
to discontent over his economic policies.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
11</B> Frustrated by low wages, high inflation, and rampant crime, 50,000
protesters trap more than 100 Socialist legislators inside Parliament,
saying that they will not free the lawmakers until they agree to new
elections. The legislators escape the scene after the Bulgarian police
fire warning shots and club the protesters.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
12 </B>President Zhelyu Zhelev and the Speaker of Parliament appeal to the
government to agree to early elections. In power for two years, the
Socialists have driven the country to virtual bankruptcy: in 1996,
inflation hit 310%, the local currency--the Lev--went from 70 to 645 to
the dollar, 15 of Bulgaria's 42 banks went into receivership, and average
salaries declined to about $30 a month.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
13</B> Afraid of losing its power, the Socialist Party announces its
willingness to enter into a "wide dialogue" with the opposition
party and to accept new elections in "principle"; but Ivan
Kostov, the leader of the opposition party, says that the Socialists'
proposals cannot be trusted.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
14 </B>Currently, Bulgaria has only a caretaker Prime Minister, Socialist
Prime Minister Zhan Videnov, who has resigned but is still in power.
Although Interior Minister Nikolai Dobrev has been chosen by the Socialist
Party as the Prime Minister designate, the opposition refuses to allow him
to be sworn in because Mr. Dobrev recently ordered the police against the
demonstrators.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
15 </B>Thousands of Bulgarian workers stage a walkout to persuade the
government to give up its power. In one of Bulgaria's largest labor
unions, Podkrepa, workers strike nationwide for a one hour period.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
19</B> Petar Stoyanov is sworn in as the new President of Bulgaria. He
immediately agrees to the protesters' demands for new parliamentary
elections, and says that the corrupt politicians who have "robbed the
country" and caused Bulgaria's economic crisis should be punished.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
27 </B>As required by the Bulgarian Constitution, President Stoyanov
announces that he will ask the Socialists, the biggest party in
Parliament, to form a new government. But he also asks them to reject the
mandate of forming a new government and to agree to the opposition's
demands for "speedy elections" in order to tackle the economic
crisis.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
28</B> Despite 23 days of opposition protests and threats of a general
strike, the Socialist Party maintains its intent to form a new government
under former Interior Minister Nikolai Dobrev, prompting 25,000 students
and opposition supporters to stage their largest rally. The Socialists
claim that all political parties will be invited to join them in a
coalition, and that elections might take place as early as this fall.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
29 </B>The Socialist Party invites opposition leaders to discuss early
parliamentary elections but the opposition says it will negotiate only if
the Socialists give up on their plan to form a new government.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Poland</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>NY
Times, Jan. 22</B> Polish Chief of General Staff Tadeusz Wilecki refuses
to turn the military over to civilian control--i.e., to Defense Minister
Stanislaw Dobrzanski--thus resisting one of the essential conditions that
Poland must meet before it can be accepted into NATO.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
23 </B>Poland's top generals reluctantly agree to comply with NATO
regulations for civilian control of the army. This new NATO criterion has
led to the elimination of 600 jobs in the Polish general staff.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><B><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">EASTERN
EUROPE</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></B></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1"> </FONT></FONT></FONT></I></B></CENTER>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Armenia</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>NY
Times, Jan. 3</B> Although Armenia is now at peace (Armenia and Azerbaijan
fought for six years over the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
in Azerbaijan) and its economy has improved by about 7% a year over the
past two years, the country is drifting towards dictatorship. The trend
started in 1994 when President Levon Ter-Petrossian banned a major
opposition party and began restricting the press; it rose this year with
flawed presidential elections (in which Mr. Ter-Petrossian narrowly won)
and increased human rights violations.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Georgia</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>NY
Times, Jan. 12 </B>The former Soviet Republic of Georgia, a nation of 5.5
million, has been redirecting its economy away from Russia and towards the
West (in particular Turkey) since it became independent in 1991. But a
combination of geography and reluctance by the West to become entangled in
the Caucasus have forced Georgia to turn to Russia for security. In
exchange for five military bases in Georgia, Russia has promised Georgia
its help in regaining the province of Abkhazia (in which secessionists
have caused a civil war) and Russian border guards patrol Georgia's
frontiers. Georgian officials claim, however, that Russia is causing more
problems than it helps and they have quietly sought to replace Russian
border troops by asking Germany and the United States for assistance.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Russia</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
8 </B>Two months after his quintuple bypass surgery, President Yeltsin is
hospitalized with pneumonia.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
13 </B>Responding to American concerns that a supply of highly-enriched
uranium and spent nuclear fuel at a research reactor near Tbilisi,
Georgia, could fall into the hands of terrorists or "would-be"
nuclear powers, Viktor Mikhailov, the head of Russia's Ministry of Atomic
Energy, pledges that Moscow will arrange for transfer of the material to
Russia for safekeeping by March. (Mr. Mikhailov offered similar assurances
last year, however.) Mr. Mikhailov also announces Moscow's plans to build
nuclear power plants in China, India, and Iran as a way to deal with the
financial crunch of the Russian nuclear industry.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
20 </B>Hoping to raise money to pay the $3 billion debt Russia owes to its
labor force and, at the same time, reestablish the government's monopoly
on the production and sale of liquor (black-market counterfeiters and
smugglers account for 70% of the market), President Yeltsin doubles taxes
on vodka to the equivalent of $7 a liter.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1">President
Yeltsin returns to his home where he will work part-time until he is fully
recovered.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
22</B> Frustrated by President Yeltsin's seven-month absence from the
Kremlin because of his failing health, the Russian Parliament
overwhelmingly agrees to remove the President from his position. The vote
has no legal force but the legislators insist that measures must be taken
immediately to rescue an "economically depressed Russia."</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1">In
Washington for President Clinton's inauguration, Gen. Aleksandr Lebed
visits with American business leaders in an effort to seek their support
and portray himself as a man who can lead Russia toward democratic reform.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
24</B> President Yeltsin's spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, announces that
the President will not return to the Kremlin soon. The President's press
service also states that a Jan. 29 meeting of the leaders of the 12 former
Soviet republics has been postponed indefinitely.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>NY
Times, Jan. 27 </B>A NASA project to build an international space station
with 15 nations is being threatened by Russia's delay (for financial
reasons) in building a module that is vital to the station's success. The
project, which was conceived as a symbol of "a new era of East-West
accord" by fostering a new kind of global teamwork, requires the
Russian module in order to move forward.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Russia/Belarus</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
13</B> In a letter to Belarus hard-line President Aleksandr Lukashenko,
President Yeltsin proposes the "strategic idea" of a referendum
to unify the two countries "in one form or another." A senior
Kremlin official comments that the unification of Russia and Belarus could
be "the best response to NATO's plans for eastward expansion."</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Russia/Chechnya</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
23 </B>In elections scheduled for Jan. 27, sixteen presidential candidates
vie for control over the Chechen Republic. While all candidates favor
independence from Russia, the five leading contenders vow to restore order
and to establish an Islamic society.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
26</B> In preparation for the presidential and parliamentary elections,
the Chechens have taken great care to insure that their elections--which
represent their first step in "an inexorable march to independence"--are
perceived as fair by Russia and the rest of the world. They have invited
over 100 foreign observers, primarily from the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, to monitor the voting.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
27 </B>Approximately 513,000 voters cast their ballots in the first
democratic elections in Chechnya.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
28</B> With 64.8% of the votes, Aslan Maskhadov, the commander-in-chief of
the armed forces who negotiated the peace treaty with Russia, is elected
President of Chechnya in elections deemed "free and fair" by
foreign and Russian observers alike. Mild-mannered and reserved, Mr.
Maskhadov appeared low-key and moderate during the election campaign.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
30</B> The new Chechen president, Aslan Maskhadov, asks his former
presidential-candidate rival, Shamil Basayev, to join the new government.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Tajikistan</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>NY
Times, Jan. 6 </B>Four years of civil war within the former Soviet
Republic of Tajikistan, between clans backed by Moscow and rival clans
based in Afghanistan, have destroyed order in the country and turned it
into "a patchwork of entrenched, increasingly independent factions"
whose leaders are competing for power. President Imomali Rakhmonov, who,
with Russia's backing, signed a cease-fire with his rivals in December in
Moscow, lacks the necessary influence to bring about the peace.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><B><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">THE
FORMER YUGOSLAVIA</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></B></CENTER>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Bosnia</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
3 </B>After a three-month delay, Bosnia's first postwar government starts
work, with the first meeting of the two chambers of the joint Parliament
of Bosnian Serbs, Muslims, and Croats.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
5 </B>According to World Bank and International Monetary Fund officials,
international efforts to rebuild war-torn Bosnia are going well although,
by year 2000, per capita income is expected to be only two-thirds of its
prewar levels.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
12 </B>While NATO forces are confident in their ability to prevent the
military forces of Bosnia's factions from starting another war, they see a
danger to peace in the Bosnian local police forces. These forces, which
are trained to operate as small military units and are under the command
of nationalists, are monitored only by 1,600 unarmed international police
officers who work for the U.N. According to international monitors, they
have stockpiled arms and ammunition in preparation for conflict.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
29</B> Former rivals in the 1993-1994 war, Bosnia's Croats and Muslims
take final steps to form a joint army. With orders signed by Alija
Izetbegovic, the Muslim leader of Bosnia's collective presidency, and
Kresimir Zubak, the Croatian president of the Croat-Muslim Federation, the
Muslim-led Bosnian army commander, Gen. Rasim Delic, is appointed head of
the joint command. Gen. Zivko Budimir, a Croat, becomes the chief of
staff.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Serbia</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
3 </B>Despite street protests and demands that he be ousted, President
Slobodan Milosevic rejects a call by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to reinstate opposition victories in local
elections. In December, the OSCE issued a report that supported the
opposition's claim of victories.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
5 </B>Tens of thousands of opposition demonstrators defy a police ban on
street marches and immobilize the capital city of Belgrade. Daily
protests, now entering their 7<SUP>th</SUP> week, started after the
government of President Milosevic annulled the election victories of the
opposition (Zajedno) in 14 of 19 major cities in Serbia.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
6 </B>President Milosevic's opponents stage one of their largest rallies
on the Orthodox Christmas Eve.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
8</B> In an attempt to appease his rivals, President Milosevic
acknowledges that the opposition won control of Nis, Serbia's second
largest city. The protesters claim, however, that the Socialist Party must
relinquish local power in Belgrade and in the other contested cities too.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
13</B> The local electoral commission in Nis rejects the government's
pledge to honor the election results and refuses to give control of the
city to the opposition coalition. The refusal may indicate a weakening of
control from Belgrade and the hard-liners' continued rejection of a
peaceful solution.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
14 </B>Indicating for the first time the government's willingness to
relinquish its hold on the capital, the electoral commissions in both
Belgrade and Nis announce that the opposition victories should be
respected. Opposition leaders keep insisting, however, that protests will
continue until the Government recognizes all of their victories.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
21 </B>The Serbian government announces that no indication of fraud has
been detected in 8 of the 14 municipal elections-a statement that weakens
the Socialist Party's case for nullifying the opposition victories.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
27 </B>After 69 days of protests, President Milosevic is now conceding to
the opposition control of Nis and 5 other towns, but retains control of
Belgrade and a dozen other towns that the opposition apparently won.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Serbia/Croatia</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
18, reported in NY Times Jan. 21</B> In eastern Slavonia, a Serb-held
enclave under U.N. administration which is to be returned to Croatia on 15
July 1997, tensions are rising among the 120,000 Serbs who live there
(half of whom are refugees from other parts of Croatia), fearful that the
Croatian government will not allow them to stay. Under the Dayton
agreement, Croatia promised that the Serbs could remain as citizens of
Croatia (even though they seized the region by force in 1991), but so far
it has denied the Serbs "minimal guarantees" about job security,
political representation, and citizenship.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>NY
Times, Jan. 27 </B>Fifteen months after signing the Dayton Accord, the
situation of the two men who looked like guarantors of stability in Bosnia
has changed. Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic barely holds on to power
in the face of protests in Serbia, and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman
is gravely ill with cancer. As a result, the Clinton Administration has
begun shifting its policy to supporting Mr. Milosevic's opponents, looking
beyond Mr. Tudjman to identify new Croatian leaders, and making plans to
arrest some of the 70 people indicted for war crimes.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><B><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">WESTERN
EUROPE/EASTERN EUROPE</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></B></CENTER>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Central
European Countries</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>NY
Times, Jan. 2 </B>To join NATO, the military of Central European countries
must unlearn their Soviet training and become "inter-operable"
with NATO, i.e., be able to set up a defense in a NATO way. Hungary, the
Czech Republic and Poland are learning these techniques in exercises with
the Partnership for Peace program, in Bosnia (along with U.S. and British
soldiers), and through basic reeducation in Western military schools. A
year ago, for example, Hungary's top officers were exclusively Soviet
trained; today, 7 of the top 10 officers have been trained on both sides.</FONT></FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Czech
Republic/Germany</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
21 </B>Ending a cycle of attack and retaliation that began in the late
1930s, Czech Prime Minister Václav Klaus and German Chancellor
Helmut Kohl sign an agreement that acknowledges the wrongs their two
countries committed against each other. Germany asks for forgiveness for
the crimes committed on Czechs by the Nazis when they occupied the Czech
lands beginning in 1938, and the Czech Republic expresses deep regret for
the violent expulsion of approximately three million Sudeten Germans in
1945 and 1946.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER><I><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">NATO/Russia</FONT></FONT></FONT></I></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="-1"><B>Jan.
30 </B>Addressing political and business leaders at the World Economic
Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
states that Russia will not accept NATO "infrastructure" on its
borders, hinting that Russia might in effect accept the Alliance's
expansion if it does not include stationing military equipment or foreign
soldiers in neighboring countries.</FONT></FONT></FONT> <BR> </P>
<P></P>
<HR WIDTH="100%">
<P><BR>
<FONT COLOR="#083250"><FONT SIZE="-2">Copyright @ Center for Strategic
Decision Research 1998</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT COLOR="#083250"><FONT SIZE="-2">Strategic Decision Press</FONT></FONT>
</P>
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