Solution-Oriented Policy

ARTICLES OF WISDOM A Soviet official described this new approach as a “solutionoriented policy.” Previously, all their attention was on proving the other side wrong. Now they are ignoring such distractions and concentrating on how to solve problems. This change between the Soviet Union and the United States offers a powerful lesson for other nations. In today’s world, the policy of conflict and confrontation has become so costly that even great powers can no longer sustain it. Then how can smaller nations afford to engage in such a destructive pursuit? A Turn Toward Realism Nikita Khrushchev was Prime Minister of the Soviet Union from 1958 to 1964. Addressing the capitalist world, he made his famous remark: We will bury you (Hindustan Times, June 28, 1988). Similarly, in 1983, U.S. President Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” American officials declared that they would push communist Russia into the sea. But seventy years after the communist revolution, in 1988, both countries were finally forced to change their thinking. Soviet leaders began traveling to the United States for talks. Ronald Reagan himself visited Moscow (June 28 to July 2, 1988)—something he had once thought impossible. Before his visit, he said in Washington: U.S. relations with Moscow must be guided by realism (Hindustan Times, May 26, 1988).