Forget About Monica, It's Moscow and the Stakes are Global

Most Americans believe that President Clinton faces the most consequential moment of his career on Monday when he is scheduled to testify before Kenneth Starr's grand jury. In fact, a much bigger day for Clinton and the rest of the world comes just two weeks later when the president meets with Boris Yeltsin in Moscow. By this time, Russia very well may be in the throes of a major market meltdown, which in turn might trigger political upheaval on a scale similar to Indonesia. Different from Indonesia, however, Russia still has 10,000 nuclear weapons. The gravity of Russia's crisis makes this September summit one of the most important foreign policy missions of Clinton's presidency and an event of much greater importance than his grand jury testimony.