In tough-guy talk, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait forced Moscow to put up or shut up about its new political thinking and desire for partnership with the nited States.
The answer was a swift and unmistakable sign of how the Kremlin views the new world order. Forced to choose between its Iraqi ally of four decades and the West, Moscow quickly joined the United States in condemning Saddam Hussein's takeover of tiny neighboring Kuwait."It is something unbelievable, that a friend of the USSR is engaged in conflict, while the Soviet Union is pledging with the United States to condemn the aggression," a veteran French diplomatic observer and old Middle East hand said.
"Obviously, the Soviet strategy is to prevent the danger of war so that they can concentrate all their efforts on their internal problems, their perestroika," the observer said.
Other possible explanations for the Soviet decision to condemn the Iraqi invasion included Moscow's desire for economic aid from the West and a long-standing desire for recognition by the United States that the Kremlin is a constructive partner for peace.
Other observers suggested the Soviet government, beset by problems at home, felt too weak to engage in a policy of confrontation with the West even when Soviet interests were at stake in the Middle East, the Soviet back yard.
Cynics might also note that as the world's largest producer of oil, the Soviet Union may benefit in the rise of world oil prices that followed the Iraqi swallowing of Kuwait.
But although the Soviet diplomatic intervention on the U.S. side captured headlines, the Kremlin has been working with the United States steadily, without fanfare, to settle regional conflicts during the five years of perestroika.
Both superpowers cooperated to bring peace to Angola in complicated negotiations that also brought Namibia to independence. They also worked together silently to end the conflict in Nicaragua in Central America.
The two superpowers are now inching toward a settlement of the 12-year Afghanistan conflict, and even toward a solution in the most intractable of all wars, Cambodia.
The United States, taking a page from the Soviet book, has abandoned support of the anti-Communist coalition in Cambodia that included the murderous Khmer Rouge.
President Mikhail Gorbachev's new thinking has allowed the Soviet Union to make bold moves toward re-establishing relations with Israel and South Korea, while calling for a foreign policy based not on ideology or class interests but on adherence to non-aggression.
Throughout his five years in power, Gorbachev and his foreign minister, the talented Eduard Shevardnadze, have repeatedly called for moving from "confrontation to cooperation and to partnership" with the United States.
"Except for the event itself (the Iraqi invasion), the Soviet-U.S. communique is the most important development," the French diplomatic veteran said. "There is no precedent for such a communique."