ABSTRACT
Few doubted history had tacked a new direction when with one voice the Americans and Soviets instantly and angrily condemned Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, and called for a world-wide arms embargo of his country. Vast changes had occurred in Soviet foreign policy by the time Hussein moved against Kuwait, changes fundamentally altering the nature of the superpower relationship, changes that at their most stunning undid the Coldwar European order. The Gulf crisis carried the revolution in Soviet foreign policy across another threshold—and altered the Bush Administration's view of the Soviet Union more than almost anything that had come before. Wondrous policy changes do not materialize out of thin air, and this one had an extraordinary genesis. A revolution in the whole of Soviet foreign policy prepared the way. If Soviet policy comes under the increasing influence of the republics, particularly, the Russian Republic, those who presently lead are likely to push the Mikhail Gorbachev policy even further and faster.
