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The Potemkin Think-Tank

Heritage Foundation, June 24, 2010:

New START: Potemkin Village Verification

The New START verification regime is not sufficient to detect large-scale cheating by the Russian Federation. As past experience has shown, inadequate verification measures are likely to be exploited. If Russia has the necessary resources, it can deploy many more warheads and missiles than allowed by the treaty with little risk of detection. To state that this Treaty begins to establish a basis for further reductions leading toward eliminating nuclear weapons is absurd. If the current Administration intends to pursue deeper nuclear reductions leading to nuclear elimination, verification regimes more intrusive and demanding than the now-expired START verification regime will be needed. The weak verification measures in the New START Treaty are a step in the wrong direction.

The Heritage Foundation, March 20, 1987:

"Gorbachev's "Glasnost": Another Potemkin Village?"

Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's Glasnost campaign raises important questions about the direction of the Soviet system. Is it genuine, or is it a sophisticated effort to disarm domestic and foreign opponents without any fundamental change?