European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 11, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Bune. Y a \ vex Tai \ trip x v m w it it in matters of personal Comfort most important to the average soviet citizen Mikhail s. Gorbachev has not delivered. My grumbling Over Gorbachev by Ann Imse associated press Mikhail s. Gorbachev promised the people a better Deal and has brought them far greater Freedom during five years in Power but the shortages and la it discomforts that make daily life a struggle we grown worse. A Quot Quot thing is 10 make life better for people Quot he Iommi 8sinterviewer a few months after becoming in March 1985 Quot there is no 90a Kaswin fars later the soviet Union and its former  Pean satellites Enid a a stunning degree of Fol in has based a he fear of War he has freed a me remainq09/3 m ails and psychiatric hospitals. A program a comr nudism in the communist party a Quot program except the spirit and methodology. But ?lon9er Enid is unquestioned authority Lich he3 mater of the apparatus through is in a strength r9e of 9ainin9 Broad new strengthened presidency. Lothe Aveiao rape Ronal Comfort most important it delivered. End Wever Gorbachev has not  a on summer goods Are in even Famlin. Nearis has m took  the i blushed this month Pope questioned in a poll Asanin egg said daily existence was harder Quot five Wisi Vel close ii of dl�?od96,y of renewal continues cow hews Coral rented 8cives Quot he pro re,0rm Gorbachev a economic program has been a series of mistakes and half measures. He has delayed painful but critically needed Steps like Reform of a Price Structure that has no relation to costs and wastes resources. Only in recent weeks have legislators approved Laws allowing Farmers to lease land and individuals to own factories and other Means of production. Even ardent supporters of those Laws say they do not go far enough. Meat butter and other foods Are rationed in Many places. In Moscow a City of 9 million people 1.25 million Are on waiting lists for better apartments. Jewels of Imperial architecture Are crumbling. Repairmen and Snow lows seem to have vanished. The Leader knows it. In a speech to the communist party Central committee last month Gorbachev acknowledged Quot further disruptions of the consumer Market a growth in shortages and lines and a fall in the purchasing Power of the  Quot we hoped to mount the Peak of the crisis in 1989, but recent events have shown. No change for the better Quot he said. On March 11, 1985, when Gorbachev followed the old ailing leadership that had presided for two decades there was much that needed fixing. His predecessors left a nation near bankruptcy its infrastructure worn out and people dispirited. It had plenty of missiles but no hot water in two thirds of the Rural hospitals. In the repressive soviet Union of 1985, however few dared openly say anything was wrong. Gorbachev changed that. Under the Banner of glasnost or openness he has introduced greater official honesty and an improved intellectual life. Last year he installed the beginnings of democracy with the first competitive elections and first working parliament in 70 years. In february he won agreement from the communist party leadership for a multiparty system. Newspapers and television which once provided endless paeans to the sacrifices of world War ii Soldier and hero labourers have been transformed. The Iron curtain has disintegrated. Once forbidden books have been published including Alexander Solzhenitsyn s Quot the gulag  in 1990, it is expected that 8 million soviet citizens will visit the outside world where Gorbachev has had his greatest Success and May be More popular than at Home. Reformers across Eastern Europe attributed their courage to act and their Success to the soviet Leader Promise of non interference and his indications that the time for change had arrived. By setting the satellites free and agreeing with the United states to eliminate medium Range missiles he helped Lessen the danger of War. Nato has reduced Border patrols recognizing the diminishing risk of an attack by the Warsaw pact. On the horizon Are treaties on reducing Long Range nuclear weapons by 50 percent and withdrawing hundreds of thousands of . And soviet soldiers from Central Europe. Even soviet leaders More conservative than Gorbachev regard such achievements with Pride. Quot we have lifted the real threat of nuclear War Quot said Yegor k. Migachev the leading conservative in the politburo when asked by reporters March 4 to name the successes of Gorbachev s five years. Quot we were on the Brink Quot he said. Quot one step More and we could have found ourselves in a nuclear  regional and ethnic tensions Are another matter. Ethnic conflicts have taken 500 lives in two years and nationalism arising from the new political Freedom threatens to dismember the soviet Union. Lithuanians talk of declaring Independence this year perhaps As Early As this month. Activist Kazimieras Uoka told the lithuanian review the soviet Union was so sick that Quot by summer the situation in Russia will be such that our secession will be hardly  Gorbachev responded to the threat of anarchy by seeking Strong new presidential Powers including the right to declare War and suspend Legislatures in the 15 republics. After local and regional elections March 4, he told reporters the new Powers were necessary because Quot stability and order Quot were breaking Down. He said disintegration of the soviet Union would be a greater upheaval than China a cultural revolution of a generation ago. Parliament member Yuri Afanasiev who is forming a More Radical reformist opposition to Gorbachev said the soviet Leader s problem is a shortage of Public Trust not of Power. Quot nobody listens Quot Afanasiev said in a television interview. He said Gorbachev talks about the need to transform a centralized Empire into a voluntary Union of Independent nations but has not acted on it. Misgivings Are increased by the fact that Gorbachev has promised Legal guarantees of human rights limits on communist party Power and fully competitive democracy for nearly two years but has not translated the pledges into Law. Many it Zens were shocked by his televised Finger wagging tirade against Radical reformers who denounced his proposed stronger presidency As dangerously close to dictatorship. Whatever his Powers the hardest part of Gorbachev a Job lies ahead. Coal miners frustrated by miserable living conditions Are talking of renewing their strike when the weather warms. Hoarding increases. Citizens fear civil violence and ethnic attack. Quot people Are tired Quot Gorbachev told reporters on election Day. Quot people can see How difficult it is to get the Good things of life and How much More difficult it is under confrontation and the arms race. Problems of housing health care and the environment need to be  11. 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 15