European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 23, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes monday february 23, 1987 columns George will easing of communist tyranny is just cosmetic the soviet  was per forming in Moscow in from of in Audi ence which although hardly unsympathetic was looming with theatrical personalities who arc exacting critics of theater Norman Mailer Gore Vidal. John Kenneth Galbraith Shirley Mac Lai no Gregory Peck. Mikhail Gorbachev the russian impressionist did his finely honed imitation of the i9lh-Ntury philosopher whose pre Ccpas guide the regime. Marx no silly. John Stuart Mill. Liberta reamsm is leaking from the scams of the soviet system faster than conservatives can caulk them. Con scr Anives Are of course communist parly members unreconciled to Gorba Chevian liberalism. Perhaps 140 political prisoners May be released about 3 Perchem of the 4,000 such prisoners or one prisoner for each 2million of the 280 million soviet Citi Zens All whom Are. With democratic impartiality denied All the rights Guaran teed by the soviet regime in the Helsinki accords. A torrent of 140 releases would be 50 More prisoners than the 90 who have been imprisoned for religious practices during the most recent 12 months of orb Anavian liberalism. Helsinki article 8 everyone has the right to. Manifest his religion or belief in cach ing practice worship and Observance the regime Giddy with generosity is said to do considering allowing the Emi Gration of 400 jewish refuseniks one tenth of 1 percent of the 400,000 refuse Niks. The soviet Public has not been notified of the startling transformation of its situation this softening i am quoting a foreign ministry spokesman instituted against the wishes of com rades who think he harsher the  those comrades Are conservatives like the government agents too bus dealing up jewish demonstrators to read Mill s on Liberty or even Helsinki article 20 everyone has the right of peaceful Assembly and association announcements of prisoner releases arc made Al the foreign ministry thai fact causes some Western conservatives to think the liberalization is a charade for foreign consumption implying Only cosmetic changes in soviet tyranny. In this context the term conservatives denotes wet blankets at the movable feast of detente however believers in Gorbachev s thaw Point out How pleased Boris Pas Ternak would be were he alive to witness Jim Fain Sast a he regime bringing him Back to life. Nest year 31 years after the publication in the West of or. Zhivago that novel will be published in the soviet Union. This proves that Gorbachev s thaw is unprecedented since the last precedent Khrushchev s thaw in the Laic 1950s, which included the publication of some writings by Solz he Iliyn who today lives in Vermont passing Over the variations of repression during the Stalin Era it is fair to say that Khrushchev s thaw was without precedent other than Lenin s that coincided Wilh the new economic policy the Short lived liberalization of the Early 920s. Still there Are sceptics grumps Tike Richard Schifter assistant Secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs. He says the Helsinki final act was signed by representatives of 35 nations with 1,1 billion people 40 percent of whom live in East bloc nations that a dozen years later arc Mill not in compliance with that act Gorbachev has been the soviet Leader for More than two years and probably has been the dominant Force in soviet government for longer than thai Schifler has participated in human rights discussions with soviet officials for six years and if now there is a different approach i have not noticed  he says the fundamental and continuing problem in the soviet Union is the  of the position of its secret police. That i believe is the great differ ence Between Gorbachev s openness and Khrushchev s thaw. Following the arrest and subsequent execution of Lavrenti Beria in 1933, the secret police had been moved to the margin of the soviet government apparatus. In the 1970s, with the Rise of Yuri Andropov the Kab moved Back into the Center of Power this there now. And the fact that big brother is always watching makes it indeed possible for the leadership to relax therein just a Little in the full knowledge that they can always be pulled tight  Schifter May not be impressed but Shirley Maclaine May have had yet another of her out of body experiences us a result of hearing Gorbachev say the words that also excited diplomats and headline writers around the world our International policy is More than Ever i.e., As usual determined by Domestic policy by our interest in concentrating on constructive endeavours to improve our country and you thought the speeches of soviet leaders were Ether set in print you thought Iacre was nothing new under the Sun what Gorbachev said was that he is intent upon building socialism in one country. Who else Ever said hat Well of who aside from Stalin Washington Posl in ten 0/oup . Foiling to act on soviet show of weakness Mikhail Gorbachev is running a strikingly different show in Russia and the Keagan administration is As befuddled As a hound trying to Cross an interstate when it comes to How to Deal with it. The Boss communist told a gathering of world class celebrities in Moscow that his country needs a respite from the arms race so it can concentrate on economic problems. Our International policy is More than Ever determined by stir Domestic policy he said. Hurrah he precisely what every analyst in this country is saying but How Gratifying to hear it from the very Mouth of Mamiem. Russian leaders tradition ally do not acknowledge weakness. It s great to Hae your foe admit he can i afford to Bailie you. So what Are we doing to facilitate this turn inward resolutely nothing. We re pretending it in t  soviet experts in the slate department Are excited the rec gun while House Pooh Poohs tiny change and Insisi nothing is happening. Partly this is a Facer of the Iran debacle that trans lies a Tagart & co., but mainly in s the curious polities of Ali communism. Since Jac Mccarthy s heyday the american right has fuelled itself on the russians arc coming a la the monumentally hyped to series Bachas inflicted on us. Ronald Reagan cot his Start on just such Para Noia. Most movement conservatives who make up his Core constituency arc in polities for no other  the soviet threat and they d be Back arguing that fluoridated water causes cancer Well Russia is a threat of course and Gorby has t changed anything fundamental. He s trying to fight drunkenness lots of Luck bureaucratic sloth and the paucity of ideas that results from stifling dissent. He won t be Able to do much about any of this until glasnost Means More Titan a society Wilh its door just slightly ajar but Why should t we Welcome tin1effortthe arms race is crippling us Loo. Even Keagan believes in big government when it comes to lasers and nukes. Our spending n Way up which is part of Why our deficit is so horrendous we need to be realistic about the soviet Union. It s a cruel insecure regime that will lie cheat and use brutal Force to achieve its Aims. We Deal with in Mil because we like or Trust it but because the alternative is nuclear holocaust. We must always insist on verifiable and reciprocal concessions. But realism also Calls for recognizing its  is now a discredited philosophy. It has no allure in the third world much less in the industrialized democracies. And it is so bankrupt As an eco nomic system thai Gorby himself admits turning in around will be a monumental task. We have nothing to gain by trying to break it As some of the far right argues. It will afford the arms race As Long Asil feels it has to meanwhile basking i propaganda victories for As Long As the rest of the world sees us 35 the Barrier to arms control since Truman s Day we be based our policy on the theory that White in was not possible to make Peac Wilh the existing soviet system that system might evolve into something Wilh Wahidi we could do Busi Ness. This May be just what s trying to happen now. What u tragedy in coincides with he first . Administration anti communism it can Tso mesmerized by theological see he Opportunity Muffi less a rasp. By Rico