Foreign Policy Considerations Research Articles

Odyssey: Principles for enduring space exploration

Abstract As the USA, Europe and other nations embark on a new voyage of exploration to the Moon, Mars and beyond, they should lay the foundations and establish precedents that invite a host of participants and followers. We argue that international cooperation, driven by foreign-policy and cost-sharing considerations, has taken a prominent role but must be pragmatically and flexibly balanced with economic and strategic self-interest. Since exploration visions are likely to differ, the steps each country will pursue, the funding provided, and schedules followed will also differ. To support an enduring exploration vision, it will be important to remain flexible to changing priorities and amenable to the inclusion of new, non-traditional participants. Open-systems principles and metaprinciples should be employed at all levels—hardware, software, programmatic, political and cultural. Equally important, national leadership and decision makers should be mindful of the potential pitfalls that might undermine the venture. While the new vision inspires us all, it will take creativity, resourcefulness, hard work and cooperation to succeed.

RONALD REAGAN AND THE TASK FORCE ON IMMIGRATION, 11981

Immigration was not a major priority for President Ronald Reagan and his conservative agenda in 1981. Political, economic, and foreign policy considerations, however,forced the Reagan administration to create a task force and address the issues of refugees, legal immigration priorities and numbers, and escalating numbers of illegal aliens. This article evaluates the task force's review of the issues, its recommendations to the President, and his response. Although immigration remained a secondary issue for the Reagan administration, the White House's response to the issue in 1981 offers revealing insights on Reagan's management style, on the disagreements within his administration over how to deal with illegal aliens, and on the ultimate contribution of the White House to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

The Politics of Humanitarian Aid: U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, 1964–1995

Previous studies of U.S. foreign aid have firmly established that foreign policy and domestic considerations strongly influence allocations of military and economic development assistance. Uncharted, however, is the question of similar influences on U.S. humanitarian aid. Analyzing U.S. foreign disaster assistance data from 1964 through 1995, this paper concludes that foreign policy and domestic factors not only influence disaster assistance allocations but that they are the overriding determinant. This impact is, however, somewhat differential: the initial “yes/no” decision to grant disaster assistance is markedly political, but the subsequent “how much” decision is also not devoid of political considerations.

Greece’s Balkan Policy in a New Strategic Era

Developments in the Balkans have always been at the top of Greece’s foreign policy considerations. This article reviews Greece’s approach to the region during the Cold War period and especially since then by attempting to explain why the region holds such a high priority for Greece and how the country and its foreign policy elite deal with it. The need for having a domestic consensus, lining up policy with that of the European Union, working with the United States and keeping relations with Turkey on an even keel are some of the conclusions the author draws.

The Soviet Far East as a strategic outpost and the regional authorities' nationality policy: the Korean question, 1920-1929

This article analyses the centre-periphery divergence over the Korean question in the Russian Far East, taking into account material from both Russian central and regional archives. The relative permeability of the frontiers in the Far East practically up to the 1950s and the heavy dependence of the Russian/Soviet Far East's economy on Manchurian commodity streams at least until the beginning of the 1930s gave this region a 'double periphery' character. After the act of judicial 'Sovietization' of the Russian Far East, the Bolsheviks initially tested a model wherein the 'political substance' of Bolshevism was developed on the old market economic framework, which had been adapted to the needs of the new regime mainly through reform measures and not with revolutionary sweep. However, the export-import orientation of the Dal'krai regional economy, which resulted from the region's economic separation from European Russia and its dependence on Manchurian and Pacific commodity markets, was not initially understood by its practitioners in Dal'krai as a retreat from Bolshevik doctrine, but rather as a variant of socialist economic principles applied to special conditions. The constant threat of political annexation and economic subordination by Japan, along with active Japanese and Chinese 'colonial engineering' on the frontier territories, forced the regional authorities to be guided to a considerable extent by foreign policy considerations in their search for solutions to internal issues. In this context, the Bolsheviks manifested appreciable 'central-regional' diversity towards the 'Korean question'. The analysis of the dynamics of this diversity from 1920 to 1929 supports the theoretical considerations of Terry Martin ('Peidmont principle') and Nick Baron (European 'governmentality') on the material of the Russian Far East.

Mediation and Foreign Policy

Although mediation of international conflicts plays an important role in international relations, the theoretical study of mediation is not well integrated into studies of international politics. Analyses of international mediation often treat it as an autonomous activity that is impacted by politics but is not part of politics. This chapter offers a different approach, presenting mediation from a political perspective, which views it as part of foreign policy . The term foreign policy is used here in the sense of a purposive strategic behavior, a “behavior motivated by a conscious calculation of advantages” (Schelling 1963:4). This premise is obviously a simplifying, but useful one, because it provides us with a framework for understanding, comparing, and evaluating state behavior. The discussion that follows focuses only on a segment of the broad field of international mediation, examining only one actor in the drama—states performing the role of mediator. It calls attention to domestic and foreign policy considerations that shape the mediating state's behavior, and suggests directions for research into the subject. I start with a few comments about a common approach to the study of mediation and then present an alternative approach that views mediation as part of foreign policy. Given this political framework, I discuss three issues that seem to reflect interesting links between domestic and international concerns: (1) the perception of mediation as possessing a moral dimension, (2) the domestic and international influences shaping mediators' strategies, and (3) criteria for evaluating mediation. Mediation theory initially developed with reference to conflicts within states—such as arise within families, within communities, in labor relations, or between business firms. Much of the literature on mediation is written with reference to a prescriptive framework on how third parties need to act to induce disputants to abandon their confrontational behavior toward each other. Theoretical work in …

The Domestic Dimension of EU External Policies: The Case of the EU–Morocco 2000–01 Fisheries Negotiations

One of the difficulties of studying European foreign policy is establishing what should be analysed as its domestic dimension. Intergovernmentalist accounts, focusing on the bargaining among member states’ executives, prevail over multi-level analyses which also study European institutions, non-governmental actors and sub-national governments. This article focuses on the formation of the EU position in the negotiations with Morocco for a fisheries agreement in 2000–01. In those negotiations, very specific fisheries interests prevailed over general foreign policy considerations in the relationship with a privileged EU partner. A multi-level analysis helps us understand how narrow interests succeed in gaining priority over strategic considerations in the formulation of European foreign policy.

China on the Korea Peace and Unification Process

This study examines China's relations with the Korean peninsula by focusing on the issues of Korea peace and unification process. After a brief review of historical legacy, it looks closely at Beijing's attitudes towards Korean unification and peace process, the changing priorities in Chinese foreign policy, balance of power and community‐building in the region, and decline of ideology and personal ties in Beijing's foreign policy considerations. It also analyzes Korean minorities in China and Beijing's diplomatic dilemma created by the issue of North Korean refugees. The conclusion section summarizes Beijing's major concerns towards the Korean Peninsula and future directions ofSino‐Korean relations.

The causes of convergence in Western immigration control

In recent years, some scholars have argued that there has been a convergence of the immigration control policies of the industrial democracies. This article demonstrates that, in fact, there has been an extraordinary similarity among the immigration control policies of the major receiving countries for over a century. It examines six alternative explanations for these similarities in immigration control policies: (1) a global hegemon that forces or persuades various countries to act in unison; (2) global or regional migration regimes and organizations; (3) interdependence between the immigration control policies of various countries; (4) emulation of immigration control policies of one country by other countries; (5) the world system approach; and (6) interdependence between the socioeconomic and foreign policy factors that lead to immigration control policies. The article argues that it is the last factor that explains most of the similarity among the immigration control policies. It demonstrates how global economic cycles, shared migratory pressures, alliances that produce common foreign policy considerations, wars that receiving countries are involved in and global ideological cycles produce the convergence of immigration control policies in various receiving countries.

The shaping of Australia's immigration and refugee policy

Since 1945, the objectives of Australia's immigration policy have been based at one time or another on security, self‐sufficiency, labour market considerations, economic growth, homogeneity, population building and social and humanitarian considerations. The scale of immigration has been influenced by the level of unemployment, general economic conditions prevailing at the time, the political party in government, the lobbying power of prospective interest groups, public perception and receptiveness, and foreign policy considerations. Australia's refugee policy (including intake), which was only formalized in 1977, has been determined by the resettlement needs around the world, foreign policy considerations and domestic politics.

Trans-State Loyalties and Politics of Turks and Kurds in Western Europe

Trans-State Loyalties and Politics of Turks and Kurds in Western Europe Eva Østergaard-Nielsen (bio) The formation and politicization of diasporas is not a new phenomenon, but one that is becoming increasingly prevalent. Most studies of trans-state political activities of diasporas focus on North America, where the trans-state loyalties and activities among well-established groups such as the Jews, the Greeks, and the Armenians have been recognized as a significant component of North American domestic and international politics. 1 Yet, in Western Europe too, transnational communities of immigrants and refugees retain and develop an interest in, and political ties with, their country of origin. 2 Transnational communities confront policymakers with demands for a particular policy toward their homeland. At the same time, homeland governments urge host-countries to restrain the political dissidence of the diasporas. To date, however, there is little research into the trans-state loyalties of contemporary immigrant groups in Western Europe. The cases of Turkish and Kurdish communities in Germany and the Netherlands illustrate that mobilization and activities directed toward the homeland also have national and international ramifications in a Western European context. The success of such activities, however, should not be measured by the extent to which they change the course of events in the homeland via foreign policy lobbying or direct intervention. Such changes in international relations are, in any case, difficult to trace back to the effort of single non-state actors. Rather, in a Western European context it is meaningful to focus on the specific efforts of transnational [End Page 23] communities and how they are acted upon by political institutions in their host country and homeland. Indeed, the dialogue on Turkish politics between representatives from the Turkish and Kurdish communities and the central political institutions in their host-countries raises a number of issues of both specific and general importance for contemporary politics in Western Europe. For instance, to what extent is lobbying for political issues relatied to the homeland considered legitimate in Western European polities? What makes certain political gatekeepers, such as political parties and trade unions, listen more to some groups than to others? To what extent does the bilateral relationship between the host country and homeland influence attentiveness to homeland political lobbying? This article will mainly draw on examples from Germany and the Netherlands to illustrate how Western European political gatekeepers display a marked reluctance to deal with the homeland political lobbying of immigrant communities. 3 Even so, movements within these communities have contributed to introducing the politics of their homeland into the politics of their host country, and a situation of spatial diffusion of domestic politics has emerged. Western European governments’ policies toward ethnic communities within their polity have become intertwined with foreign policy considerations toward the homelands of these communities. Thus the notion of the national “boundedness” of domestic politics is challenged, because Turkish domestic political issues become part of the dialogue between German and Dutch policymakers and minorities of Turkish descent in Germany and the Netherlands. Transnational Communities from Turkey in Western Europe Numbering more than three million, Turkish citizens constitute one of the largest and most widely dispersed immigrant groups in Western Europe. They are the largest single group in Germany (approximately 2.2 million), the Netherlands (approximately 154,000), and Denmark (approximately 36,000). 4 Given that more than two-thirds of the Turkish citizens live in Germany, this article mainly draws on empirical examples from this country. Almost all of the communities originate in post-World War II labor recruitment. But a large percentage of Turkish citizens living in Western Europe were actually raised or even born there. A small proportion of [End Page 24] Turkish citizens in Western Europe arrived as asylum seekers. 5 The Turkish presence in large Western European cities has become increasingly manifest. There are numerous taxi drivers, an abundance of Turkish restaurants and cafeterias, and Turkish newspapers at newsstands. While the restaurants and taxis are patronized by all, the Turkish coffee houses, discos, pop events, mosques, and Koranic schools reflect the self-containment of Turkish communities. Travel agencies, driving schools, banks, and import-export firms headed by Turkish citizens and intended for Turkish citizens are...

Britain and the Revolt in Cyprus 1954-1959, and: To kypriako zetema 1878-1960, he syntagmatike ptyche

Reviewed by: Britain and the Revolt in Cyprus, 1954–1959, and: [inline-graphic 01i][inline-graphic 02i] Van Coufoudakis Robert Holland, Britain and the Revolt in Cyprus, 1954–1959, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 1998. Pp. 340 and index. $95.00 cloth. Evanthis Hatzivasileiou. . Athens: Ellinika Grammata. 1998. Pp. 204. The Cyprus problem continues to be the source of interesting new studies. Robert Holland is a Reader in Imperial and Commonwealth History at the Institute for Commonwealth Studies, University of London. Evanthis Hatzivasileiou is a young Greek historian who has contributed both to the study of Cypriot colonial history and to the publication of Karamanlis’s memoirs. Robert Holland’s book is a “must” reading for anyone interested in British decolonization policy in general and in the Cypriot quest for enosis and for eventual independence in particular. Based on primary sources, this book is the first detailed study of the British response to the Cypriot and the Greek demands for enosis. His minute analysis of British documents begins with a summary of [End Page 184] colonial policy from 1878 to 1950, with particular emphasis on the Greek Cypriot uprising of 1931 and its consequences. The book goes on to discuss the “crisis of trust” during the failed negotiations from February 1950 to April 1955. The nine chapters that follow constitute the most in-depth analysis of British colonial policy on Cyprus that has ever been written. These chapters show Britain’s conflicting domestic and foreign policy considerations as it attempted to cope with the loss of an empire in the aftermath of the second world war, the pressures generated by British perceptions of the country’s strategic role in the Middle East and in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the political dynamics in the Greek-Cypriot community. Holland provides the most detailed account of how ethnic coexistence came apart under these intense pressures and the calculated British policy of bringing in Turkey to deflect Greek and Greek-Cypriot enosis demands. Holland’s analysis of primary sources documents in minute detail how Britain introduced Turkey as a party of equal interest in the dispute, and how Britain presented the idea of the island’s partition on 19 December 1956. However by 1957, Britain’s policy came to be controlled by Ankara. By the fall of 1958, Turkey had gained a stake in the government of the island and had instigated the de facto partition of Cyprus. Meanwhile, the British colonial administration and security forces lived in a military enclave cut off almost entirely from the general life of the island. By the spring of 1959, it was the Turkish foreign minister, Zorlu, who called for the commutation of two death sentences of Greek-Cypriots and brought about the delay in the publication of laws implementing the “Macmillan Plan.” Finally, the other interesting insight in Holland’s book concerns the role of two American consuls, Courtney and Belcher, during the emergency period in Cyprus. Both diplomats understood the issues involved in the Cyprus problem and Britain’s failing policy. Washington remained well informed throughout this period, reluctantly intervened at critical times, but in the final analysis it too allowed regional and NATO related strategic considerations to determine its Cypriot policy. Holland should be congratulated on his important contribution to the study of Cyprus and to Britain’s decolonization policy. Hatzivasileiou’s book relies on an extensive bibliography to document the constitutional history of Cyprus during British colonial rule (1878–1960). The focus of this book is on the evolution of 80 years of constitutional history on the island, rather than on a detailed examination of specific constitutional proposals. The island’s constitutional evolution was affected by the forces of nationalism, by external political influences, by the colonial administration’s interaction with the two communities, and by the political struggles within each of the two Cypriot communities and among and within British political parties. The author shows Britain’s failure to encourage bi-communal understanding and its reliance on the minority community to blunt the Greek-Cypriot demands for self-determination and enosis. The accumulation of these forces led to Britain’s spasmodic policies that ranged from offers of limited political participation...

Theory Meets Practice: Some Current Human Rights Challenges in Canada

The article examines three recent situations in which human rights issues have been in the forefront of public policy debates in Canada. In the first, freedom of expression may have been compromised as a result of foreign policy considerations. The second case involves the sometimes contentious issue of equal pay for work of equal value. Thirdly, a current initiative aimed at resolving a longstanding claim by Aboriginal Canadians is examined in the context of principles of equality.

Certification meets NAFTA: more schizophrenia in the misguided war

This paper traces the antecedents and implementation of the so-called US certification process in the Western Hemisphere. It portrays certification as an emblematic component of an ongoing, yet ultimately ineffective and counterproductive, hemispheric anti-drug war based upon supply-side policies and unilateralism. The paper illustrates how the apparently inconstant application of the process in the region reveals the continuing existence of some awkward contradictions within US narcotic foreign policy. It is argued that issues of trade and commerce have now replaced Cold War political considerations as a cause of inconsistent transnational anti-drug policy. A discussion of US–Mexico narco-diplomatic relations since the creation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) provides evidence of the systemically imposed and now well-ingrained practice of sacrificing drug control to other US foreign policy considerations.

Conflict, the continuum and chronic emergencies: a critical analysis of the scope for linking relief, rehabilitation and development planning in Sudan.

The concept of the 'relief-to-development continuum' has been the subject of renewed interest in recent years. Concerned by the rise in relief budgets over the past decade and the absolute fall in development aid resources, support has been growing for the concept of developmental relief. In the context of complex political emergencies, it has been argued further that as effective development aid can reduce vulnerability to the impact of natural hazards, so it might also be used to contribute to a process of conflict prevention. In this way, the concept of the relief-development continuum has become entwined with broader discussions about the contribution of official development assistance management. Drawing on a Review of Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), this paper cautions against uncritical application of the concept of the continuum in complex political emergencies and rehabilitation in particular, in the current Sudanese context. It argues that in order to move legitimately from relief aid programming to development aid programming, three fundamental conditions must be in place: first, a minimum level of security, respect for human rights and humanitarian access. Second, empirical evidence from the field needs to demonstrate that the emergency is over. Finally, moving from relief to development aid programming is contingent on donor governments accepting the legitimacy of national governmental structures and of the rebel movements. In other words, for donor governments, moving along the continuum is in significant part determined by foreign policy considerations, not only technical ones. Consideration needs to be given to the actual and perceived legitimation of the different movements that a move to rehabilitation might be seen to imply. The paper argues that none of these conditions had been satisfied in Sudan by mid-1997. Instead of a process of normalisation paving the way to long-term development, the current situation in Sudan is better described as a chronic political emergency. In such a context, uncritical pursuit of developmental strategies may negatively affect the welfare of conflict-affected populations.

The dynamics of Chinese missile proliferation

Abstract The missile nonproliferation regime has been criticized for its ineffectiveness in constraining states such as China from contributing to the proliferation of ballistic missile systems and related technologies to states in other regions. This regime is predicated on the assumption that the creation of social norms and acceptable patterns of behaviour will ultimately require China and others to conform to a universal perpective on the sources of and remedies for missile proliferation. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that China's willingness to supply sensitive missile technology is a function of a weapons‐export policy that is incompatible with current initiatives in missile nonproliferation. Such a policy is the product of certain foreign policy considerations and domestic factors that serve as motivational elements within the internal political system.

Some implications of the aborted sale of Russian cryogenic rocket engines to India

In July 1993 Russia decided to suspend a contract signed more than two years before, that would have supplied cryogenic rocket engines and related technologies for India's civilian space program. Moscow's decision to second guess the original deal was reached on the eve of U.S. economic sanctions that would have gone into effect should Russia have decided to honor its agreement. The United States had threatened to impose an embargo on grounds that the proposed Russian sale would violate the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), one of its major post‐cold war foreign policy considerations. The importance of the suspended deal lies in its multiple ramifications and some of these are explored in this article. Among others, the aborted contract indicates shifting alliances in the post‐cold war world as the established Indo‐SovietlRussian bond has weakened and Moscow and Washington have moved toward greater cooperation and understanding. It even may have had the effect of motivating India toward developing...

L’admission des « personnes déplacées » aux Etats-Unis : geste humanitaire ou arme idéologique ? (1945-1953)

In December 1945, President Truman led a conservative Congress to admit a limited number of Jewish and non-Jewish « Displaced Persons » (DP's) into the United States. The arguments he presented were mostly humanitarian. But in 1948, in spite of the powerful restrictionists, the admission of DP's and refugees from communist countries was perceived as an ideological weapon in the cold war. The humanitarian factor played a large role in the debates, yet foreign policy considerations were decisive.

How the Clinton Administration Can Make Foreign Aid Work

The changes taking place in the world today are exposing the inadequacies of the U.S. foreign assistance program. Beyond external changes such as the fall of communism, internal changes have occurred in the policy decisions and purposes governing the program, management and operations of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), level of public attention on scandal, and aggressiveness of congressional oversight. After describing the purposes of the foreign assistance program, this article assesses the evolving role of the agencies involved in foreign assistance planning, budgeting and implementation processes; the processes themselves; the changes affecting the program; and the decision‐making structure. Three reforms are needed to make the U.S. foreign aid program more responsive to U.S. foreign policy interests and more effective in accomplishing its development mandate. First, a strong policy focus is needed to direct the program toward realistic objectives and the best mechanisms for achieving those objectives. Second, the foreign aid program must move away from implementing projects with limited objectives and toward programs that promote broad‐based economic growth, pluralism and democracy. Finally, AID should be merged into the State Department, and its field structure reorganized and reduced to better integrate development and foreign policy considerations.

Stalin's War Against the Jews: The Doctor's Plot and the Soviet Solution (review)

144 SHOFAR Stalin's War Against the Jews: The Doctor's Plot and the Soviet Solution, by Louis Rapoport. New York: The Free Press, 1990. 318 pp. $22.95. Only a few years after the Nazi holocaust of European Jewry, the Soviet government announced to the world, in January 1953, that nine Kremlin doctors, six with identifiably Jewish names, had murdered two of Stalin's closest aides after World War II. These men were now involved, it was alleged, in a secret plot devised by Western imperialists and Zionists to kill top Soviet political and military leaders. The revelation that Jewish doctors were at the center of a sinister international conspiracy to undermine Soviet security touched off a Soviet press campaign about a supposed fifth column in the USSR and stirred popular antisemitism. Many prominent Soviet Jews were arrested, deported, or dismissed from their posts; many more lived in fear and anxiety. A plan was put in motion to ship Jews in cattle cars to concentration camps east of the Urals. Louis Rapoport, news editor for thejerusalem Post, borrowing Lucy Dawidowicz 's title, suggests that, during his last days, Stalin, like Hitler, developed a maniacal plan to deport and kill Jews. The anticipated show trial and execution of the doctors, foreshadowed by similar trials in Eastern Europe, was not merely an instrument of Stalin's renewed determination to purge the Soviet state. The use ofJewish doctors, the orchestrated campaign, and the preparations for mass deportation reflected also Stalin's fIXation on the Jews, which reached immense proportions during the Cold War. Drawing on research in Israeli, American, British, and private Soviet archives as well as on interviews with relatives of central figures in the story, Rapoport tells of Stalin's Judaeophobia , Soviet Jewish policy, and the events leading to the doctors' plot. His thesis is that Stalin was a paranoid antisemite, whose anti-Jewish hatred was planted in a Georgian seminary and nourished in the history of the Bolshevik movement, particularly in his struggle with Trotsky, developed during the Great Purge of the 1930s, and became dominant in the period from 1948 to 1953. Stalin succumbed openly and uncontrollably to the passion in his last days. Inspired by domestic and foreign policy considerations, Stalin's regime did not hesitate to use nationaVethnic politicS for its ends. During World War II, Stalin created a Soviet Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee OAC) to help mobilize world Jewish opinion on behalf of the USSR. JAC leaders Solomon Mikhoels and Itzik Feffer visited the US in 1943 and made contacts with American Jewish organizations. JAC leaders published a Vol. 10, No. 3 Spring 1992 145 newspaper, documented the Jewish tragedy in Nazi Europe, even came to believe that Stalin might approve a massive postwar settlement ofJews in the Crimea. After World War II, Stalin sharply reversed policy, launched new· and intensified campaigns against cosmopolitan and nationalist influences, and sharply curtailed Jewish organizations. The JAC was disbanded in 1948 along with other institutions of Jewish history and culture; its efforts to document the Nazi holocaust were suppressed. Its leadership was liquidated during 1948 to 1952, charged with espionage and efforts to make the Crimea an outpost of Western imperialism. A particularly absorbing chapter details the murder in 1948 of Solomon Mikhoels and implicates Itzik Feffer as a security agent. Historians like Benjamin Pinkus interpret such policy changes and suppression ofJewish institutions in the context of the growing Cold War, the rise of Israel, and Stalin's pathological suspicion; Rapoport stresses Stalin's obsessive antisemitism. The doctors' plot tied Jewish doctor-poisoners with Jewish and Zionist spies, named Solomon Mikhoels as the alleged mastermind, identified American Jewish organizations with American imperialists, and was part of 'a "secret terror in the making." Equally true, Rapoport avows, it was a scheme aimed at "genocide." The arrested doctors, who were brutally tortured, confessed. The Soviet media whipped up "hysterical antiSemitism ." Prominent Jews were compelled to sign an appeal to Stalin to save the Jews by deporting them to the east. The show trial and execution were timed to coincide with Easter. Trains were readied to carry the Jews to camps in Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Birobidzhan. Then Stalin suffered a stroke...