Bush topped this off with a pre-emptive concession: agreement to exchange warm ranch- and-home visits, for which Putin was eager, even before any progress was shown in agreement to scrap the old ABM treaty.

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For an image-conscious political operative like Secretary Baker, however, the most important message is a different one: If despite such willing American concession-making agreement cannot be reached by the end of the Moscow ministerial, the blame will rest squarely with the Soviet Union.

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The new agreement is a major concession by the ultra-Orthodox rabbis, who have been loth to open up their closed and sheltered community to the spiritual dangers and temporal temptations of the outside world.

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America's Mr Zoellick aims to portray the American concession as no more than an agreement to clarify existing rules, but that may not be how other WTO members see it or, more importantly, the American Congress.

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European Council President Herman van Rompuy announced the agreement, seen as a concession by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, after a marathon late-night meeting in Brussels, Belgium.

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Repudiation of the Bush Administration's recent concession to Moscow whereby the Soviet Union can obtain observer status in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) even before the Kremlin adopts price reform and other market practices needed to make its economy more compatible with the GATT system.

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The Bush Administration should at once repudiate its recent concession to Moscow which would permit the Soviet Union to obtain observer status in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) before the Kremlin adopts price reform and other market practices needed to make its economy more compatible with the GATT system.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center for Security Policy | An Effective US Response To Soviet Economic Warfare Against Lithuania