Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis

As president Ronald Reagan begins his second term in the White House a little-known politician, Mikhali Gorbachev, becomes leader of the Soviet Union after Leonid Brezhnev's death in 1982 and two short-lived general secretaries of the Soviet communist party. Gorbachev is a reformer who wants to create a new era of peace and co-operation with the Western World. He uses terms like "Glasnost" and "Perestroika" - modernist policies which involve a re-structuring of the Soviet state and a move away from the old threats of the Cold War. Gorbachev's appointment causes immediate tensions; many of the Communist's old guard, from Generals to Regional Politicians, refuse to accept him and chaos ensues. After a few days the central government manages to control the situation and the country falls into an uneasy truce with itself. But in some outlying areas, often controlled by powerful men with their own agendas, the situation remains dangerously unclear and the Soviet Government loses any real sense of power.