affairs including ambassadorial roles to China in the United Nations, director of the CIA, and official visits to 65 foreign countries as vice president. Momentous geopolitical events that occurred during Bush's presidency include: Momentous geopolitical events that occurred during Bush's presidency include:George H. W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft. A World Transformed: The collapse of the Soviet Empire, the Unification of Germany, Tiananmen Square, the Gulf War (2011) Excerpt. The crushing in June 1989 of the Tiananmen Square protests in China, which was widely condemned in the United States and around the world. The United States invasion of Panama in December 1989 to overthrow a local dictator. The signing with the USSR of the START I and START II treaties for nuclear disarmament. The Gulf War in 1991, in which Bush led a large coalition that defeated Iraq when it invaded Kuwait. Victory in the Cold War over Soviet communism. Revolutions of 1989 and the collapse of Communism, especially in Eastern Europe German reunification in 1990, with the democratic West absorbing the ex-Communist East. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, replaced by a friendly Russia and 14 other countries. Except for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in China, all the events strongly favored the United States. Bush took the initiative in the invasion of Panama and the START treaties. Otherwise, he was mostly a passive observer trying not to interfere or gloat about the events. Given the favorable outcomes, scholars generally give Bush high marks in foreign policy, except for his unwillingness to condemn the Tiananmen Square crackdown. He thought long-term favorable relations with China were too important to jeopardize. Post-Cold War: 1992–present Favorable world scene For the first time since the mid-1930s the international scene was highly favorable. Old enemies had collapsed with the fall of Communism and the Soviet Union. Other problems seemed far less pressing and President Bill Clinton, with little expertise in foreign affairs, was eager to concentrate his attention on domestic issues. as Walter B. Slocombe argues: Germany...had been reunified peacefully and its partners in the European Union were moving toward economic integration with political integration a long-term, but now less implausible, prospect. The former Warsaw Pact satellites were on the way to stable democracy and market prosperity. North and South Korea had agreed on a process of denuclearization. China seemed absorbed in its internal development, having cast off revolutionary zeal in