[speaker001:] Hello
[speaker002:] Hi
[speaker001:] Hi,
[speaker002:] My name's Ken,
[speaker001:] Hi Ken, my name's Diane.
[speaker002:] And, um, you're in Texas, right?
[speaker001:] Yes, I'm in San Antonio.
[speaker002:] Everybody's in Texas. God,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] I'm in Rochester, New York. Everybody else but one has been in Texas.
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] Okay, well I guess we should get on with this.
[speaker001:] Okay.
[speaker002:] Um, did you get the message about what it was, right.
[speaker001:] Yes.
[speaker002:] Okay, go ahead, I'm going to hit the button [beep]. Okay, um, do you think that the Soviet Union represents a threat to us?
[speaker001:] I think they'll always represent a threat wheth-, whether or not there's an active cold war or not. Uh, it's, it's 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.
[speaker002:] That's interesting. I don't, I, I suspect they're not our biggest threat anymore.
[speaker001:] Probably not, no.
[speaker002:] I suspect it's probably some crazy man like Saddam Hussein
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] 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.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh, and, and it's recognized that the two great powers
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] are us and them, and, and the great powers are always pitted against each other.
[speaker002:] But I wonder how much longer they're going to be a them.
[speaker001:] I don't know [LAUGHTER]. They, they're going downhill pretty steady.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] 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.
[speaker002:] 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
[speaker001:] Yeah,
[speaker002:] if, if, if need be. But,
[speaker001:] 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 allow-, 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.
[speaker002:] Yeah, actually I noticed this I mean, this, this, this most recent scare of his, where he said, or he just decided that instead of having, uh, instead of having, I can't think of the word now,
[speaker001:] [Noise].
[speaker002:] if there are any demonstrations for, in favor of Boris Yeltsin, he decided, well, I'll just cancel all demonstrations altogether.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] So, I, I, I think that, he, he, he's actually, he, I think, is becoming very dangerous
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] 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.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] I mean, I've heard stories now where the, 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 like with the Baltic states when they just go in there
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] divvy the people up.
[speaker001:] 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
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] 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.
[speaker002:] That's interesting. I, I wonder, I don't know if he's, he, he seems, the thing about Gorbachev strikes that he wouldn't be that dumb [LAUGHTER]. I don't know though.
[speaker001:] I don't know. I mean, and it, it might be something that he wouldn't be able to control.
[speaker002:] That's, that, that's something that really true sort of a military thing I was speaking of before.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] 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 to not let you do it, you know. So.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Yeah, that, that's real scary, actually.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] I mean, I, I, I would expect their own problems would keep them away from us for a while, but it could be real dangerous.
[speaker001:] Yeah, we've got our own worries at the moment.
[speaker002:] Yeah, right, we don't need to worry about them.
[speaker001:] I guess as long as, uh, they're fighting each other, we don't have to worry about them wasting their time with us.
[speaker002:] Yeah, but wouldn't it be nice if no one had to fight anybody else.
[speaker001:] Well, sure, that, but that's a, that's an impossibility, I think
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] given the differences in the world, and people are just too different.
[speaker002:] Well, I don't, I don't know. I think that un-, underlying we're all pretty, probably not as, as different as everybody thinks.
[speaker001:] But unfortunately, people, people aren't that insightful.
[speaker002:] Right. Well, that's, that's certainly true of it.
[speaker001:] 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.
[speaker002:] That's true. I was, I was discussing with someone before, um, this, someone before, actually one of these calls
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] matter of fact about another topic, but it came up, one of these calls
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] matter of fact, about, um, another topic, but it came up, one of these, this, this poem, Everything I Wanted to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, or something.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] You've read that one before.
[speaker001:] No, I haven't read it. I've heard all about it, though.
[speaker002:] 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, everything happened in kindergarten, and in kindergarten we learned to share, and we learned to, um, play with each other, we learned to take nap, and to take naps, and whenever we'd start a fight we'd all apologize and hug each other
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] 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.
[speaker001:] Yes, but people grow up, and they forget.
[speaker002:] Yeah, unfortunately.
[speaker001:] Well.
[speaker002:] 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 much,
[speaker001:] That's one of the places I would most like to go. Not right now, of course
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Yeah.
[speaker001:] but at some point I would like to go to Moscow and, and, to, just to see all these things that you can see on television now and can read about that ten years ago we didn't have this kind of information
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] and we didn't know what things were like. So.
[speaker002:] I would, I would love to go there. {E I mean, like, again, not now, but at some point, } to go see what, what this is like, I mean, this, this is amazing, 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, so it would be interesting to watch.
[speaker001:] Yeah, I and, I, the, the people. I just feel so sorry for the people in the country, that they can't, I mean, they, they can't do any-, they can't change it. They try they, and they, there's nothing that they can do.
[speaker002:] Yeah, that's, that's and the ones I even feel somewhat worse for, even, um, the ones in like the Baltic states
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] where they don't have a strong leader, then, 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.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] But, um, I mean, the Baltic states, I think, are just sort of trapped. I mean, they were taken over couple, you know, not too long ago
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and then just sort of told, well, you're here now, you're part of our country. You be this way. It's a, I think it's a sad state of affairs, but.
[speaker001:] 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
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah, yeah.
[speaker001:] who are actually countrymen of, I mean, some of them were split off into Israel, I believe, and some of them are in Turkey
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] when actually they, they don't, they're their own people and their beliefs and their own culture system.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And they were split up into three different countries.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh. Yeah, well, yeah, and that.
[speaker001:] And, and they're very dissatisfied, and they're, they're causing wars right now, and I don't think it's that different from what the Baltic states are, are going through.
[speaker002:] 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.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And they have like a problem, they have Muslims to deal with
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] as well as Saddam Hussein. I, I mean I think their big problem up there is, you know, unfortunately, not only are they vic-, there's more than one group fighting for the same place. They all want the, you know, whereas the Baltics are saying, Oh, we want our own. We just want this little tiny piece of land.
[speaker001:] Yeah. The, the one that I think, one of the wom-, 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
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] of the countries over there, and within five or six countries there are probably ten cultures of people,
[speaker002:] Yes, yes.
[speaker001:] And that's, they don't all have their own country, and, and some of them are mad about it [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Uh-huh. Um, actually, my wife is Syrian, so I, I, also I know some of the history.
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] And actually the other funny thing is that I'm, I'm Jewish. We're sort of like the Middle East peace talks ourselves.
[speaker001:] Oh, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] So we, I, I know, 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
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and it's the same thing I thi-, it's, it's almost the same thing out, out in the Soviet Union right now. There, you know, there are, 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.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] I mean, we did it couple of hundred years ago here, but they wanted to do it. So.
[speaker001:] Yeah, and I don't think the people here two hundred years ago were that different, I really don't.
[speaker002:] That's, that's certainly true.
[speaker001:] I mean, they had the same ideals and the same basic beliefs.
[speaker002:] Right, uh, I wonder, I wonder if now the people in the Soviet Union don't have ideas very different from that.
[speaker001:] The-, the-, they might. The Baltic states might be feeling the same way that our forefathers felt when they were leaving to come here...