Radio wave propagation through electron-density fluctuations in the ISM is studied. Observable propagation effects are explored using a one-dimensional thin-screen model for the turbulent medium. Diffraction caused by stochastic small-scale irregularities is combined with refraction from deterministic large-scale irregularities. Some of the effects are illustrated with numerical simulations of the wave propagation. Multiple imaging is considered, delineating the possible effects and discussing their extensions to two-dimensional screens and extended three-dimensional media. The case where refraction as well as diffraction is caused by a stochastic medium with a spectrum of a given form is considered. The magnitudes of observable effects is estimated for representative spectra that may be relevant to the ISM. The importance of the various effects for timing and scintillation observations of pulsars, VLBI observations of galactic and extragalactic radio sources, and for variability measurements of extragalactic sources is assessed. 47 references.