European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 23, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10. A the stars and stripes tuesday october 23 1990 columns a a. S a f a a so f a Bui Bryan Brumle yall in ally Gorbachev s week was t so hot Mikii Aii s. Gorbachev begun last week by winning the Nobel Pence prize on monday and he closed it by persuading the soviet legislature to approve his latest plan Lor economic Reform on Friday. But tuesday through thursday weren to so hot. Although the Nobel prize added Luster to Gorbachev a already shining global image it gave him Little Protection irom his Many Domestic critics. They accuse him of doing too Little too late to appease the 15 soviet republics and prevent them from leaving the soviet Union. The two largest republics Russia and the Ukraine stepped closer to breaking with the National government during the week. The continuing disintegration of Central authority May prompt Gorbachev to rely More heavily on the sweeping executive Powers entrusted to him last month by the National legislature. But a bold assertion of emergency Power could kill soviet democracy As it is being born and doom Gorbachev to the Fate of centuries of russian reformers who began their reigns with Good deeds but ended them As tyrants. Gorbachev was Jovial Friday night after the supreme soviet legislature approved his moderate Reform plan. The plan would partially reverse decades of Central planning allow the Market rather than the government to set most prices and encourage private Enterprise. The preceding three Days gave him plenty of reasons to growl however. On tuesday Boris n. Yeltsin the president of the russian federation criticized Gorbachev a reforms As half baked and said they Are a doomed to  he steered his Republic toward far More Radical measures. On wednesday Grigory Zavlinsky an architect of Yeltsin a Reform package threatened to quit his Job As Deputy prime minister of Russia because he believed that Gorbachev a plan would trigger disastrous Price increases. On thursday prime minister Vitaly Masol of the Ukraine was forced to resign after widespread student protests that signalled a growing separatist movement in the second largest and potentially most troublesome soviet Republic. Previously the Ukraine had been relatively quiet especially when compared to the Baltic or caucasus republics. On Friday Gennady Filshin another russian Deputy prime minister accused Gorbachev of a massive attacks on the republics right to control its own Economy and polities. Gorbachev might have expected better. Receiving the Nobel prize he had commented monday was a an appreciation of the cause we Are All working  but the democratic forces Gorbachev helped release Are now working far faster than he is to decentralize economic and political Power. Since Yeltsin was elected russian president in Maytom Wicker denims Tomb sorbs Tomb and his legislature declared sovereignty Russia has set the tone for relations Between the Central government and the republics. Nearly All of them have declared some form of Independence or sovereignty. Now Yeltsin and Gorbachev Are at loggerheads when cooperation is crucial the 66-Page economic Reform document approved Friday leaves it to the republics to enact Laws to enforce the plans. Russia and the other republics however show Little sign of cooperating. On the other hand Gorbachev has a fall Back position a he has Broad executive Powers that the legislature granted him last month to carry out the economic reforms. On oct. 4, in his first decree under the Powers Gorbachev authorized stiff fines for businesses that do not meet delivery quotas under the Central planning system a the very system that he says he wants to do away with. But does Gorbachev really have either the authority or the Means to enforce that decree or any others he May promulgate a in the current political situation the Economy is not going anywhere. You can Issue decrees but no one will pay attention a said de Hewett a soviet economic expert at the Brookings institution in Washington. A even if you produced a very detailed plan that was very Radical but gave it to a government that has a reputation of doing nothing Little could  an Agency will be created to Monitor compliance with delivery quotas according to two top Gorbachev economic aides Nikolai Petrakova and Leonid Balkin. But the president might rely on the Kab Security police or armed forces to enforce the decree and that could kill the democratic reforms. Using the police to bolster Central planning does not seem a Likely Way to Foster a decentralized Market system. Gorbachev is not the first Kremlin Leader to face the dilemma of Reform versus authority according to the emigre russian historian Alexander Yanov whose articles have been published this year in the soviet press. Czar Ivan in began his Rule in 1533 by fostering democracy and convening a parliament called the a Zemski  things fell apart though and he resorted to terror becoming known to history As Ivan the terrible. Peter the great opened russians a window on the West in the Early 18th Century and reformed nearly All aspects of the government. But to do so he employed extreme personal Power and some historians Call him a despot. Alexander ii the a Czar Liberator a freed russian serfs in the 1860s. But his Tough measures against dissent helped Lead to his assassination in 1881. Gorbachev May have had a Tough week but it looks like the coming Winter could bring More cause for sorrow. Associated pres Bush is the big loser in budget Brouhaha no matter what kind of Federal budget finally comes out of the unseemly scramble that has so demeaned Congress and the White House in recent weeks a Long suffering Public is More Likely to remember the process than the product. Seldom if Ever has the Washington establishment looked More self serving and less effective. There a plenty of blame and ridicule to go around but on first analysis the big loser a certainly of what he once referred to As a the big Mon a seems to be George Bush. But the president has lost a Good Deal More than the political momentum he had earned from his adept mobilization of the collective Security Effort against Saddam Hussein in the Middle East. Most obviously Bush a Overall approval rating dropped meteor Cally from a nearly incredible 76 percent in August to 60 percent last week in the continuing new York times lbs news poll. That a still pretty Good but it was a new Low for the Bush presidency. Worse on specific questions the president got even lower Marks 52 percent disapproved of his handling of the Economy 58 percent opposed his conduct in the budget debacle and 46 percent criticized his savings and loan  less demonstrably but not less plausibly the presidents Bob and weave performance in budget negotiations with the democrats combined disastrously with his earlier decision to abandon his a no new taxes pledge. Together they undermined the Public belief that republicans and Bush personally Are More responsible and reliable than democrats in fiscal matters. The one Point on which the president and his aides had seemed most nearly Adamant moreover was their resistance to an income tax increase that strikes the wealthy a even As the president kept insisting on a capital gains tax break for the same Rich. Bush was willing however to accept a higher gasoline tax and a sin taxes on whisky Beer and cigarettes a All of which Bear Down hardest on the poor and the struggling Middle class. Never mind that democratic negotiators accepted these levies too. It was the president who was threatening to veto anything else and it was the democrats who were also demanding higher taxes on the wealthy a even pushing a Bill explicitly designed for that purpose through the House. The net result May be that Blue Collar and ethnic groups that voted Republican in the �?T80s a Ronald Reagan a great est gift to his party a will come to the predictable conclusion so succinctly stated by Ron Brown the democratic National chairman a the Republican party favors the wealthy and the democratic party favors the average  beginning with his abandonment of the no new taxes pledge and continuing through the  and Downs of the budget negotiations Bush a performance also displeased the gop right Wing. The president failed either to take a hard right ideological stand or to provide Tough leadership for whatever position he did take at any Given moment a which was sometimes hard to Tell without an interpreter of bus speak. A modern Republican president can ill afford to offend his right Wing which dominates Republican National conventions and ideological debate within the party and is Seldom willing to lower its voice in the interests of party Unity. At least in these precincts Bush a poor showing in the budget scramble might even have resurrected the wimps reputation that be and Willie Horton with the Aid of bloodshed in Panama had so nearly buried. 1 even Bush a respect for the a vision thing never much in evidence must have seemed to Many onlookers to be less compelling than usual. A president presumably should have a sense of where he wants to take the country in economic As Well As other  appeared instead to have no Central conviction for which he was willing to fight other than the capital gains tax break and to be More concerned about escaping blame than about asserting leadership. As such caution often dictates he managed neither. The nation May be the Winner in one respect polls also show declining approval of the . Military presence in saudi Arabia. Either from second thoughts about operation desert shield or declining Confidence in Bush a general leadership support for his handling of the Middle East crisis already has plunged from 76 percent to 57 percent. This Sharp drop suggests that there would be Little support for an actual War in the desert either to liberate Kuwait or to bring Down Saddam. For that reason Bush May think Long and hard and More than twice about taking the nation into such a War a probably without allies in the Region and with too Little enthusiasm at Home. New York times