During the summer of 1978 the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was heating up. Simmering since the end of the Second World War, the East-versus-West rivalry between the Eastern Bloc of Soviet-controlled Communist nations and U.S.-led Western democracies had flashpoints all over the world. For instance, a human rights activist and two dissidents - Aleksandr Ginzburg, Anatoly B. Shcharansky and Viktoras Petkus - went on trial in separate proceedings in the Soviet Union and Lithuania. All three were handed harsh sentences, leading to waves of protests in the West and diplomatic reprisals. At the same time Soviet officials were cracking down on journalists writing for American news outlets and charged several members of the press with libel in Russian courts.