Ronald Reagan and his administration were sceptical of Mikhail Gorbachev when he became leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, but numerous high-profile meetings led to the development of a unique friendship between the two leaders that helped end the Cold War.
The former US president once bemoaned how he had struggled to develop relationships with Soviet leaders because “they kept dying on me”. But in Gorbachev, Reagan found a man different from his predecessors.
“It was General Secretary Gorbachev with whom President Reagan would finally have that long-sought opportunity to form a relationship which led to a lessening of tension between Washington and Moscow, and eventually to meaningful arms reduction,” said Fred Ryan, chairman of the board of the The Reagan Foundation and Institute.
A series of summits beginning in 1985 forged a personal connection between Reagan and Gorbachev, eventually culminating in an agreement on nuclear arms control.
The first meeting between the two leaders, in Geneva in 1985, was key for building trust, even though no major progress on nuclear disarmament was made.
“I did not know when I left for that meeting in Geneva, I would eventually call Mikhail Gorbachev a friend. I did not know what to expect,” Reagan later wrote in his autobiography.
Their 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, ended when arms control discussions broke down after Reagan refused to drop his Strategic Defensive Initiative — nicknamed the “Star Wars” programme.
Though the talks abruptly collapsed, the progress leading up to the summit resulted in the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which marked the first time the US and Soviet Union agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals.
Gorbachev himself credited the Reykjavik Summit as a turning point in the Cold War.
Subsequent summits in Moscow and Washington, along with dozens of letters exchanged between the two leaders, cemented the friendship between the actor-turned-politician and the communist stalwart.
Reagan used to delight in telling jokes about Soviet Russia, sometimes describing Gorbachev as having enjoyed the humour.
In his final year in office, Reagan said Gorbachev “deserves most of the credit” for the cooling of Soviet-US tension.
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Zidane's managerial achievements
La Liga: 2016/17
Spanish Super Cup: 2017
Uefa Champions League: 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18
Uefa Super Cup: 2016, 2017
Fifa Club World Cup: 2016, 2017
Gertrude Bell's life in focus
A feature film
At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.
A documentary
A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.
Books, letters and archives
Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
WITHIN%20SAND
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FINAL RESULT
Sharjah Wanderers 20 Dubai Tigers 25 (After extra-time)
Wanderers
Tries: Gormley, Penalty
cons: Flaherty
Pens: Flaherty 2
Tigers
Tries: O’Donnell, Gibbons, Kelly
Cons: Caldwell 2
Pens: Caldwell, Cross
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
JOKE'S%20ON%20YOU
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Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
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Blonde
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
'How To Build A Boat'
Jonathan Gornall, Simon & Schuster
