[speaker001:] hi
[speaker002:] hello hi
[speaker001:] my name's Ken
[speaker002:] hi Ken my name's Diane
[speaker001:] and um you're in Texas right
[speaker002:] yes I'm in San Antonio
[speaker001:] everybody's in Texas God okay I'm in Rochester New York everybody else but one has been in Texas
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] okay well I guess we should get on with this um did you get the message about what it was right yeah okay go great let me just hit the button
[speaker002:] okay yes
[speaker001:] okay um do you think that the Soviet Union represents a threat to us
[speaker002:] I think they'll always represent a threat whether whether or not there's an active cold war or not uh it's it's a a totally different economy based on different beliefs and and uh different priorities and uh given the the uh military powers on both sides I think it's always a threat
[speaker001:] yeah that's interesting I don't I I suspect they're not our biggest threat anymore
[speaker002:] probably not no
[speaker001:] I suspect it's probably some crazy man like Saddam Hussein
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] who's our biggest threat but um I wonder if they're I wonder how much of a threat they are I agree with you that that they'll always be somewhat of a threat given that they have that there's just it's just so big and there's just so much military machine there
[speaker002:] um-hum and it's and it's recognized that the two great powers are us and them and and the two great powers are always pitted against each other
[speaker001:] right but I wonder how much longer they're going to be a them
[speaker002:] I don't know they they're going downhill pretty steady
[speaker001:] huh that's yeah uh
[speaker002:] but I I agree right now they're not I don't believe they're a large threat right now I think there's always some threat
[speaker001:] yeah oh I agree I mean if we were to if if something were to happen I'm sure they would all of a sudden band together just for the sake of for the sake of uh of of unity against us or something if if if need be but
[speaker002:] yeah actually I feel kind of sorry for them right now because the people are are are uh wanting things that we have that they're not allowed I mean just some basic freedoms and and their government is not allowing it and Gorbachev seems to be going back on some of the things that he's been trying to push
[speaker001:] yeah actually I noticed that I mean this this this most recent scam of his where he said where he just decided that instead of having uh instead of having I can't I can't think of the word now um if they're having demonstrations for in in favor of Boris Yeltsin he decided well I'll just cancel all demonstrations altogether
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] so I I I think that he he he's actually he I think is becoming very dangerous
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] because he's making those people angry at him and he's also I think he's also making um the military angry at him I mean I've heard stories now where the
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] where the um the military is running around and they're sort of getting restless and a restless military is the kind of thing that happens you know when the Baltic States when they just go in there
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] to beat people up
[speaker002:] see I'm concerned that that since he's banned demonstrations altogether that he's going to do the type of thing that happened in Tiananmen Square and he's going to wipe out no telling how many of his
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] own countrymen uh right in the middle of Red Square and uh it's going to cause a more civil war than is already occurring
[speaker001:] that's interesting I I wonder I don't know if he's he he seems the thing about Gorbachev strikes me that he wouldn't be that dumb I don't know though
[speaker002:] I don't know I mean and it it might be something that he wouldn't be able to control
[speaker001:] that's that that's that's something that really true that may sort of that military thing I was speaking of before I think that's that's certainly true I mean his military may just go out and say well we just Gorbachev said you can't do it and we're just not going to let you do it you know so
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah
[speaker001:] yeah that that's real scary actually I mean I I would suspect their own problems would keep them away from us for awhile but
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] it could be real dangerous
[speaker002:] yeah we've got our own worries at the moment so
[speaker001:] yeah right we don't need to worry about them
[speaker002:] I guess as long as as uh they're fighting each other we don't have to worry about them wasting their time with us
[speaker001:] yes but wouldn't it be nice if no one had to fight anybody else
[speaker002:] well sure that but that's a that's an impossibility I think
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] given the the uh differences in the world and people are just too different
[speaker001:] well I don't I don't know I think that underlying underlying underlying we're all pretty probably not as as different as everybody thinks
[speaker002:] but unfortunately people people aren't that insightful
[speaker001:] right well that's that's certainly true I just
[speaker002:] they just see that this guy prays differently and to someone else than I do so therefore he's wrong and he's bad and we have to wipe wipe him out
[speaker001:] that's true I was I was discussing with someone before um this uh someone before actually one of these calls
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] as a matter of fact about um another topic but it came up under these um this this this poem Everything I Wanted to Know I Learned in Kindergarten or something
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] you've read that one before
[speaker002:] no I haven't read it I've heard all about it though
[speaker001:] that this this is the idea that I think is actually very is is what I think we should all revert to the idea that um basically they said you know everything happened in kindergarten and and in kindergarten we learned to share and we learned to um play with each other we learned to take nap you know and to take naps and and whenever we'd start a fight we'd all apologize and hug each other
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know and that would be all if we could just do the same thing sort of with with with everybody else I suspect we'd we'd be fine
[speaker002:] yes but people grow up and they forget
[speaker001:] yeah unfortunately because because I often I often sort of wonder how having never been to the Soviet Union um how different the people there really are you know how how much everyone always thought of them as you know sort of the
[speaker002:] that's one of the places I would most like to go not right now of course but at at some point I would like to to go to Moscow and and
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] to just to see all these things that you can can see on television now and can read about that ten years ago we didn't have this kind of information I mean we didn't know
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] what things were like so
[speaker001:] I would I would love to go there I mean like again again not now but at some point to go see what what this is like I mean this this is am azing because this is this is an this is an example of an entirely different culture that wants to be like us like you said before as well so it'd be interesting to watch
[speaker002:] yeah I and I the the people I just feel so sorry for the people in the country that they can't they they I mean they they can't do any they can't change it they try and they there's nothing that they can do
[speaker001:] yeah that's that's and and the ones they even feel somewhat worse for even um the ones in like the Baltic States
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] where they don't have a strong leader that you know at least at least Russia has some sort of strong leader I mean they have Yeltsin who may who may yet sort of help Russia
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] but um I mean the Baltic States I think are just sort of trapped I mean they were taken over couple of you know not too long ago
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and then just sort of told well you're here now you're part of our country and you be this way uh I I think it's a sad state of affairs but
[speaker002:] it's it's probably not dissimilar from the uh what are they the the the I'm trying to think of the name of the the something like that in Northern Iraq
[speaker001:] oh yeah the yeah
[speaker002:] who are actually who are actually countrymen of of I mean some of them were split off into Israel I believe and some of them are in Turkey when actually
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] they they don't they're their own people and their own beliefs and their own culture system and they were split up into three different countries
[speaker001:] right um-hum
[speaker002:] and and they're very dissatisfied and they're they're causing wars right now and
[speaker001:] yeah that yeah and that
[speaker002:] and I don't think it's that different from what the Baltic States are are going through
[speaker001:] um um um uh actually it sounds very I mean very similar they're sort of being they were sort of forced and now they just want to sort of speak up and say hey we want our piece
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and they have other problems they have Shiite Muslims to deal with
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] as well as Saddam Hussein I I mean I think their big problem up there is you know unfortunately not only are they there there's more than one group fighting for the same place where they all want you know whereas the Baltics are saying well we want our own we just want this little tiny piece of land
[speaker002:] yeah yeah the the one that I think one of the women women that I work for is married to an Iranian and so she has a lot of insight because she knows a lot of the history of the the countries over there and within five or six countries there are
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] probably ten cultures of people and and that's they don't all have their own country and and some of them are mad about it
[speaker001:] yes yes um-hum um actually uh my wife is Syrian um so I I also I know some of the history and so forth
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] and and actually the real funny thing is that I'm I'm I'm Jewish we're sort of like the Middle East peace talks ourselves
[speaker002:] oh huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] so we I I know that and I've been to Israel and I know and I sort of toured the area and I know that it really is very lots of different cultures in one place I mean and and it's the same thing I it's it's almost the same thing out out in the Soviet Union right now there you know there are
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] you can't take a whole bunch of people who just aren't the same people and don't want to be together and put them together forcibly
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] I mean we did it couple of hundred years ago here but they wanted to do it
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] so I could put the
[speaker002:] yeah and I I don't think the people here two hundred years ago were that different I really don't
[speaker001:] that's that's certainly true
[speaker002:] I mean they had the same ideals and the same basic beliefs
[speaker001:] right um I wonder I wonder if now the people in the Soviet Union don't have ideas very different from that so at least
[speaker002:] they they they might the the Baltic States might be feeling the same way that our forefathers felt when they were leaving to come here
[speaker001:] that's possible
[speaker002:] to to escape