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Article: A new deal for Eastern Europe; Gorbachev's gamble. (Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet Union relations)
- Article from:
- The Nation
- Article date:
- June 13, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1987 The Nation Company L.P. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A New Deal for Eastern Europe
Until recently the conservative leaders of Czechoslovakia,East Germany, Rumania and Bulgaria dealt with their critics by throwing them in jail, confiscating their publications or forcing some troublemakers into exile. But now that Mikhail Gorbachev has stepped into the critics' ranks, that approach is no longer so easy. His call for candor in politics, economic reform and cultural liberalization has thrown into disarray those Eastern European regimes that once depended on the Soviet Union to act as a bulwark against change.
Indeed, far from rushing to embrace Gorbachev's policyof glasnost, some of these governments have ...