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Do not fill this in! ===Nixon, Brezhnev, and détente=== {{Main|Presidency of Richard Nixon|Détente|Brezhnev Doctrine|Strategic Arms Limitation Talks|Helsinki Accords|Vladivostok Summit Meeting on Arms Control|Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe}} [[File:Nikolai-Podgornyi-1969-in-Tampere.jpg|thumb|right|[[Nikolai Podgorny]] visiting [[Tampere]], [[Finland]] on 16 October 1969]] [[File:Carter Brezhnev sign SALT II.jpg|thumb|left|Soviet general secretary [[Leonid Brezhnev]] and US President [[Jimmy Carter]] sign the [[Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II|SALT II arms limitation treaty]] in Vienna on 18 June 1979.]] Although indirect conflict between Cold War powers continued through the late 1960s and early 1970s, tensions were beginning to ease.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Détente and Arms Control, 1969–1979 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/detente |access-date=November 9, 2023 |website=U.S. State Department}}</ref> Following the ousting of Khrushchev, another period of [[collective leadership]] ensued, consisting of Leonid Brezhnev as general secretary, [[Alexei Kosygin]] as Premier and [[Nikolai Podgorny]] as Chairman of the Presidium, lasting until Brezhnev established himself in the early 1970s as the preeminent Soviet leader. Following his visit to China, Nixon met with Soviet leaders, including Brezhnev in Moscow.{{sfn|BBC|1972}} These [[Strategic Arms Limitation Talks]] resulted in two landmark arms control treaties: [[Strategic Arms Limitation Talks#SALT I Treaty|SALT I]], the first comprehensive limitation pact signed by the two superpowers, and the [[Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty]], which banned the development of systems designed to intercept incoming missiles. These aimed to limit the development of costly anti-ballistic missiles and nuclear missiles.{{sfn|Karabell|1999|p=916}} Nixon and Brezhnev proclaimed a new era of "peaceful coexistence" and established the groundbreaking new policy of [[détente]] (or cooperation) between the two superpowers. Meanwhile, Brezhnev attempted to revive the Soviet economy, which was declining in part because of heavy military expenditures. The Soviet Union's [[military budget]] in the 1970s was gigantic, forming 40–60% of the entire federal budget and accounting to 15% of the USSR's GDP (13% in the 1980s).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://su90.ru/defence.html|title=Расходы на оборону и численность вооруженных сил СССР|translator-last=Defense spending and size of the Armed Forces of the USSR}}</ref> Between 1972 and 1974, the two sides also agreed to strengthen their economic ties,{{sfn|LaFeber|1993|pp=194–197}} including agreements for increased trade. As a result of their meetings, ''détente'' would replace the hostility of the Cold War and the two countries would live mutually.{{sfn|Litwak|1986}} These developments coincided with [[Bonn]]'s "[[Ostpolitik]]" policy formulated by the West German Chancellor [[Willy Brandt]],{{sfn|Gaddis|2005|p=154}} an effort to normalize relations between West Germany and Eastern Europe. Other agreements were concluded to stabilize the situation in Europe, culminating in the [[Helsinki Accords]] signed at the [[Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe]] in 1975.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005|p=188}} The Helsinki Accords, in which the Soviets promised to grant free elections in Europe, has been called a major concession to ensure peace by the Soviets. In practice, the Soviet government significantly curbed the [[rule of law]], [[civil liberties]], [[Criminal justice|protection of law]] and [[Property rights|guarantees of property]],<ref name="Pipes2001">[[Richard Pipes]] (2001) ''Communism'' Weidenfeld & Nicolson. {{ISBN|0-297-64688-5}}</ref><ref name="Pipes1994">[[Richard Pipes]] (1994) ''Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime''. Vintage. {{ISBN|0-679-76184-5}}., pages 401–403.</ref> which were considered examples of "bourgeois morality" by Soviet legal theorists such as [[Andrey Vyshinsky]].<ref name="Vyshinsky1949">{{Cite book|title = Teoria dowodów sądowych w prawie radzieckim|last = Wyszyński|first = Andrzej|publisher = Biblioteka Zrzeszenia Prawników Demokratów|year = 1949|pages = 153, 162|url = http://echelon.pl/files/echelon/Wyszy%C5%84ski%20-%20Teoria%20dowod%C3%B3w%20s%C4%85dowych%20(OCR).pdf|access-date = 29 March 2023|archive-date = 29 July 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180729141510/https://echelon.pl/files/echelon/Wyszy%C5%84ski%20-%20Teoria%20dowod%C3%B3w%20s%C4%85dowych%20%28OCR%29.pdf|url-status = dead}}</ref> The Soviet Union signed legally-binding human rights documents, such as the [[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]] in 1973 and the Helsinki Accords in 1975, but they were neither widely known or accessible to people living under Communist rule, nor were they taken seriously by the Communist authorities.<ref name=thomas-hrideas>{{Cite journal| volume = 7| issue = 2| pages = 110–141| last = Thomas| first = Daniel C.| title = Human Rights Ideas, the Demise of Communism, and the End of the Cold War| journal = Journal of Cold War Studies| year = 2005| url = http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/cws/summary/v007/7.2thomas.html| doi=10.1162/1520397053630600| s2cid = 57570614}}</ref>{{rp|117}} Human rights activists in the Soviet Union were regularly subjected to harassment, repressions and arrests. The pro-Soviet American business magnate [[Armand Hammer]] of [[Occidental Petroleum]] often mediated trade relations. Author [[Daniel Yergin]], in his book ''The Prize'', writes that Hammer "ended up as a go-between for five Soviet General Secretaries and seven U.S. Presidents."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Yergin|first=Daniel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WiUTwBTux2oC|title=The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power|date=2011-04-05|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4391-3483-2|pages=557|language=en}}</ref> Hammer had extensive business relationship in the Soviet Union stretching back to the 1920s with Lenin's approval.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news|date=1980-07-03|title=Deal-maker Armand Hammer Moscow's capitalist comrade|work=Christian Science Monitor|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0703/070362.html|access-date=2021-11-07|issn=0882-7729}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite news|date=1981-11-29|title=The Riddle of Armand Hammer|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/29/magazine/the-riddle-of-armand-hammer.html|access-date=2021-11-07|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> According to ''Christian Science Monitor'' in 1980, "although his business dealings with the Soviet Union were cut short when Stalin came to power, he had more or less single-handedly laid the groundwork for the [1980] state of Western trade with the Soviet Union."<ref name=":7" /> In 1974, Brezhnev "publicly recognized Hammer's role in facilitating East-West trade." By 1981, according to the ''New York Times'' in that year, Hammer was on a "first-name basis with Leonid Brezhnev."<ref name=":8" /> [[File:1979 Iranian Revolution.jpg|thumb|upright|Iranian people protesting against the [[Pahlavi dynasty]], during the [[Iranian Revolution]]]] Kissinger and Nixon were "realists" who deemphasized idealistic goals like anti-communism or promotion of democracy worldwide because those goals were too expensive in terms of America's economic capabilities.<ref>Caldwell 2009</ref>{{pages?|date=November 2023}} Instead of a Cold War they wanted peace, trade and cultural exchanges. They realized that Americans were no longer willing to tax themselves for idealistic foreign policy goals, especially for containment policies that never seemed to produce positive results. Instead, Nixon and Kissinger sought to downsize America's global commitments in proportion to its reduced economic, moral and political power. They rejected "idealism" as impractical and too expensive, and neither man showed much sensitivity to the plight of people living under Communism. Kissinger's realism fell out of fashion as idealism returned to American foreign policy with Carter's moralism emphasizing human rights, and Reagan's rollback strategy aimed at destroying Communism.<ref>Schwartz 2011</ref>{{pages?|date=November 2023}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page