December 1991

12/1/91

Ukrainian leader for president no longer talking of an army of 400,000

US CP got $2m/yr


12/2/91

Russia says it will run cent. gov finances perm.

Bush refuses to apologize to Japan for a-bombs


12/3/91

Japanese parl to allow troops abroad. 50 yrs after Pearl Harbor yet. And carry small arms

Peru, by presidential decree, allows soldiers to draft indivs & seize property for its war effort, enter prisons & universities, force civilians inc journalists to give info or face 10 yrs in jail. Local army commanders will have authority over all gov activity in the 2/3 of Peru that are emergency zones. But Prez Fujimori dec power to name military commanders

Ukraine votes ind & the latecomer to ind Leonid Kravchuk becomes prez. Russia recognizes it. K. now proposing the 4 republics w/nukes to control them — w/out Soviet gov? Kravchuk never condemned the coup

Palestinian delegation persuaded not to have its advisers apply for US visas


12/4/91

Sununu resigns as chief of staff. But will be a “counsellor” w/Cabinet rank until March 1. It was George Bush Jr. who told him it was time to go

Israel starts a new settlement W Bank. At Peace Conf, State Dept bans photographs to prevent photos of Israeli’s empty seat

Kenya under pressure from 12 W nations w/holding aid, to allow multi-parties

A tax bill (proposed) would allow comps to amortize good will & intangibles, which would make takeovers much easier

US Dept Ed. (again) bans race-exclusive scholarships

Senate killed investigation of October Surprise
-Iranian foreign minister reports to 8/6/80 that Republicans working to delay hostage question


12/5/91

So that’s why Israel keeps insisting on Dec. 9 for Mideast talk — anniversary of intifada

David Duke to run for president as R, playing racial card more unsubtly than before, making it difficult for Bush to do so

Robert Gates talking about cutting CIA staff 15% over several yrs, through attrition. Budget seems to be going down at same rate as Pentagon

Hong Kong Parl rejected Br attempt to restrict foreign judges after 1997 to 1. So Br, US Canadian jurists to be allowed on 5-seat Court of Final Appeal. 1st time HK legislature rejected colonial law since 1844

Stepe Mesic quits as president of Yug. which he says no longer exists

Argentina Sup Court 7-2 denied gay group right to exist as homosexuality against nature & morality


12/6/91

Fed Appeals Court says US subsidiaries of foreign comps can discriminate due to US citizenship — not nat origin (!)

Bush names Samuel Skinner to be chief of staff &, typically, his pollster Robt Teeter, to run campaign

CA Demo Party volunteers, who registered Green voters did not hand them over. They were returned, asking person to reconsider


12/7/91

Russia intro 28% VAT, as only collectible tax, given black mkt

Seymour Hersh, in Sunday NYT, says early 1981 US-Israeli agreement on US reviewing & approving arms sales to Iran. Rescinded Spr82 when realized Israel selling other US-made stuff as well. But even after, US never tried to stop the $2b/yr trade & cont. replenishing Israeli supplies. The agreement coordinated by McFarlane


12/8/91

Bush helped to stimulate the economy by going to a mall & buying some socks

Head of ANC guerilla wing elected Gen Sec of CP

Last month, Bush said that despite losing in Penn., R’s doing well, citing election of Kirk Fordice as governor of Miss., who used tv pictures of black welfare mothers, called for return of chain gangs, accused the D of buying black votes, called for repeal of 1965 Voting Rights Act

Russia, Ukraine & Byelorussia dec a commonwealth w/common foreign policy & control of nukes. I think Yeltsin is trying to set something up in which he won’t be swamped by Asians. Gorby wasn’t invited to meeting on Commonwealth
-They dec. the Soviet Union finished -- what, again?
-Coordination of defense & foreign to be from Minsk. Say they’re taking over USSR internat obligations. They say they can dissolve USSR because they created it 1922. Other republics will presumably have to choose to join or not. I’d guess Moldavia won’t. And Kazakhstan, which has nukes?


12/9/91

Dallas now largest city w/only 1 newspaper

Gorby says republics can’t dissolve union


12/10/91

In Soviet Union, passengers hijacked a plane to get to their actual destination after a long delay.

Before Robert Maxwell mysteriously died (leaving behind a looted newspaper empire), it transpired that Daily Mail’s foreign editor was in Ohio when he said he wasn’t & so may have done what Seymour Hersh said

Sup Court unan. strikes down NY law that criminals can’t profit by books describing crimes & profits to go to victims

8 Romanian CP & secret police officials got up to 25 yrs for Dec89 massacre

The staff director of Quayle’s Competitiveness Council helped reverse pollution standards on a comp he owns stock of

Women have 3% of highest-paying jobs in Fortune 500

Shamir gave permission for ultranationalists to move into E Jerusalem after atty gen said should be kept out for safety reasons

Fed district judge says military ban on gays justified to prevent spread of AIDS

Pat Buchanan to run for president to right of Bush


12/11/91

Gov. Wilson proposes an initiative to cut AFDC payments 10%, & 15% less after 6 mos. Families moving here would be ltd for 1 yr to grants of former state. Teenage mothers only get money if live w/parents, who would get the money — & would be punished if not in school. And limit future AFDC to state economy & caseload

Japan fails to pass law allowing troops abroad

Eurs sign Union Treaty. Major gets to opt out on single currency & the social charter. He esp objected to limiting work week to 48 hrs. The f-word, federal, left out. The main issue, of course, is what the cents unit of the ECU will be. Eculette? Britain: veni, vidi, veto

Armenia & Kirghizia join the Commonwealth

UCB will allow in a basketball player if he can ever get 700 on his SATs, which he’s failed twice now to do

Ukrainian Parl commission says Gorbachev & others should be prosecuted for covering up dangers from Chernobyl

Salman Rushdie to publish Satanic Verses in pb


12/12/91

Haiti arrests 73 returning refugees. US still tries to get court to overturn ban on forcible repatriation

Erich Honecker has taken refuge in Chilean embassy in Moscow. But no asylum


12/13/91

The Koreas sign treaty to end (almost) the Korean War & est phone & mail

Ukraine Parl implements only part of Commonwealth, not “open borders” but “unhindered contact,” presumably meaning visiting but not settlements. Also wants coordinated foreign policy to be non-binding. And will still create its own army. Prez Kravchuk says he now c-in-c of Soviet military in Ukraine, inc Black Sea Fleet

Minn. Sup Court says no good reason for differential penalties for crack as opposed to reg. cocaine possession, so illegal as racially discriminatory. (1988 90.6% Minn. crack possessors black, 79.8% cocaine white).

KGB admits bugging US embassy, hands over blueprints

Bush came up w/plan to aid Soviet economy in 5 days. That for US economy will take 5 mos

The Cent. Asian republics have joined Commonwealth.
-Soviet defense min. says military should still obey him

As part of new Civil Rights Act, Bush admin says state employment agencies can no longer increase scores of minorities on aptitude tests. But suing over tests easier & employers must prove their validity to jobs


12/14/91

Nat Academy of Sciences says smog efforts misguided, ignoring nitrogen oxides in favor of organic compounds


12/15/91

US district court says Nixon doesn’t own presidential papers. He wanted compensation.

N Korea offers to take Honecker, though not for asylum, just med. treatment

Demo. debate. As usual, the most interesting was the longest shot, Jerry Brown, who decided that NBS, whose owner GE gave $350,000 to incumbants last yr, could not stop him asking for donations


12/16/91

Clinton wins Florida D Party straw poll by 54%, Harkin 31%

Russia claims it will take over all Soviet nukes — and its Security Council seat. And wants US to recognize ind of Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia. No one else?

UN tried to get Ger not to recognize Croatia & Slovenia, but it will & has asked Eur to do so

Nigeria’s 2-party idea didn’t prevent voting being regional

Sup Court 8-0 allows Admin to withhold names of deported Haitians. Good for safety, maybe, but denies anyone else ability to check admin’s claim that these people are not persecuted.

UN votes 111-25 to repeal Zionism-is-racism resolution. Might have been more appropriate if Israel didn’t currently have curfews & restrictions of mvmt on Palestinians

NZ not to seek extradition of a Fr secret service person for Rainbow Warrior, arrested in Switzerland at NZ request


12/17/91

Eskimos to get 1/5 of Canada, to be called Nunavut

EC to recognize Croatia, Slovenia Jan. 15

Quayle said he would be a “pit-bull” during campaign. Clinton says that has every fire hydrant in America worried.


12/18/91

US calls a snap conf of countries which give aid to ex-USSR, pretending to leadership. EC gives 80% of aid.
-Will the US ever be happy? The one US concern seems to be who controls nukes. Pro-Western democrats not good enough? Maybe we can find some communists.
-Yeltsin said only Russia would have nukes, but prez of Kazakhstan says like hell. And Kazak. wants a UN seat & may object to Russia taking over Security Council seat.
-Latest version of new name: Commonwealth of Euro-Asian Ind. States

Harold Stassen running for president at 84. I thought he was dead.

New fed campaign spending rules on money spent per state will allow blitzes on early states, inc not counting ½ advertising, travel, salaries, consultants towards those limits. Why changes this late?

Georgia & Mass. R’s keep David Duke off ballot. GA & Fla parties can do so. In Mass., sec state decided he wasn’t nationally recognized. But Pat Buchanan is.

Bush on AIDS: “a disease that for the most part can be controlled by individual behavior.”

The 4 Soviet nuclear republics will abide by previous US-USSR arms cut deals
-Ukraine & Byelorussia want to be nuclear-free & Ukraine says it will renounce control over Soviet nukes when this happens, but will have veto over nukes in Ukraine until then


12/19/91

US should be impressed with signs of Third Worldization of USSR. Moscow police extorting bribes from stopped cars

S Korea says it has no nukes stationed there now

Salvador rebels shoot down Salvadoran helicopter — over Honduras


12/20/91

Cuomo not to run. Decided 90 min. before NH filing deadline. 70 days of dithering

Mexico ends restrictions on Cath church on ed. & property — owning, monasteries, etc

Yeltsin decrees, made public while he’s out of the country, take over Soviet foreign ministry, foreign branch of KGB, Parl, fed buildings inc Gorby’s office...
-US to condition recognition of republics specifically on nukes

Bush portrays his re-scheduled tour of Asia as domestic policy, to boost US economy.

Critics of DNA fingerprinting are being pressured by Justice Dept to withdraw papers. Seems some states won’t allow it w/out a consensus among scientists

Bush said of the televised William Kennedy Smith rape trial that this “filth & indecent material” should not be televised but held behind closed doors.

Bosnia-Herzegovina will apply to EC to be recognized. Federal PM Markovic resigns. Says 81% fed budget diverted to war

Yeltsin says Russia will apply to join NATO


12/21/91

EC countries convert $7.7t/yr in currencies at cost of $12.5b. This will end.

Serbs of Bosnia talking about secession. Surprise!

Israel seized (i.e., kidnapped) 3 Lebanese, one of them a Reuters correspondent, & brought them to Israel. Later released them, presumably the wrong people. They left behind a booby-trapped flashlight which killed 3 children, inc 2 sons of one of the captives

What “Rosebud” really meant: Hearst’s nickname for Marian Davies’s clitoris

Commonwealth up to 11 republics (excluding Georgia)

Speaking of which, revo breaking out in Georgia


12/22/91

Macedonia asks EC for recognition

Kuomintang gets 71% at election


12/23/91

EC to recognize Russia as successor state to USSR (in terms of internat treaties & suchlike)
-This week, Gorby has accused Yeltsin of both vacillating & being undemocratic


12/24/91

The court connected to the OAS & the inter-America whatsis of human rights has been uppity lately, sanctioning Guatemala & Honduras. So now appointed to it is a former adviser to Somoza (when he said OAS should ignore bombing of Managua by Somoza) & contras

The 4 Soviet nuclear republics pledge no 1st strike


12/25/91

Gorby has finally given up the ghost. Difficult to call it a resignation, since he’s taken his position with him.

Kosovo to ask for EC recognition as an ind state


12/26/91

Ukraine parl commission accuses CP at the time, inc Gorby, of criminal coverup of Chernobyl, “a crime of the Communist system”

EC recognizes Russia as successor to USSR

Israel renting land in Arab E Jerusalem, at low rates, to rabid nationalist Jewish groups. Settlers in W Bank will be allowed to police themselves — theoretically just within their enclaves

N Korea to allow inspectors of nuke facilities. And will be allowed to inspect US military bases. It doesn’t help that US refuses to confirm its nukes are out, like S Korea says

US to recognize Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia. Rest not democratic & capitalist enough


12/27/91

Russia & Ukraine fighting over possession of Black Sea Fleet
-And Ukraine recruiting a nat guard — unconscripted

GM paid bonuses to white-collar workers of about $80m, just before firing 74,000

If Bush is so thrilled about Soviet democracy, why did he schedule a speech saying to so pre-empt a CNN interview w/Yeltsin?

Egypt sentences an author, his printer, & publisher to 8 yrs, for blasphemy — scenes of Muhamed having sex. 1st blasphemy charges this century


12/30/91

½ US farmland owned by 124,000 (4% of total 2.95m)

Sept. 12 was Freddy Krueger day in LA

Gov Schaefer of MD mails photos of protesters at anti-him rallies to the protesters

Ex-USSR — henceforth “Commonwealth” — 11 republics agree to allow each republic its own army — Ukraine, Azer. & Moldova to do so

Yeltsin takes over Soviet broadcasting
-And punishes his VP, who doesn’t like him, by removing his control of 5 state cmtes

“Soviet” soldiers removed from Ngorno-Karabakh

Muslim fundamentalists get 40% seats Algerian Parl, will get full control from run-offs. [Update: or would have if they’d been held]

Georgian civil war cont. apace. Opposition leaders released from jail, inc the main opponent. Gamsakhurdia’s justice min & dept mins interior & defense switch to opposition.


12/31/91

Russia maintaining internal passports, to keep people out of Moscow

Where Quayle earlier said R party a big tent on abortions, now says it’s a pro-life tent

Yeltsin abolishes collective & state farms

Bush has 3 words for domestic policy: low interest rates. His, that is, for domestic policy

Nevada Sup Court overturns a death sentence as judge may have been asleep.

EEOC decides not to apply law reversing Sup Court civil rights decision to cases currently pending

Shevardnadze says W should feel “terrorized” by nuclear threat from USSR breakup