European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 1, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Change swept around Globe by Bob Mcmahon the associated press As 1991 ended the repudiation of communism a growth in democratic movements and a surge in ethnic violence reshaped the world s political landscape. The disintegration of the soviet Union had Center stage. But the Pace of change was no less dramatic beyond the soviet Borders. In the Balkans serbs and croats waged Europe a bloodiest War since world War ii. In Africa Juntas and military dictators were swept away by winds of democracy blowing across the continent. In Southeast Asia a fragile peace replaced a Long running War in Cambodia. The year began with the world Community rallying to Boot Iraq out of Kuwait. But while the Mideast balance of Power shifted away from War devastated Iraq Saddam Hussein remained firmly in control in Baghdad. Long standing authoritarian regimes also held Sway in Syria Burma China North Korea and Cuba. The Rev. Jean Bertrand Aristide was sworn in As Haiti a first democratically elected president and ousted in a military coup within seven months. Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated while campaigning to regain his nations leadership. South african president . De Klerk repealed his White ruled country a apartheid Laws and moved to share Power with the Black majority. The warring factions in cambodians 13-year1/9/9/1 a year of dram world events civil War signed a peace Accord in october calling for elections expected in 1993. But the country s painstaking path to self determination was marked by the political re emergence of the Khmer Rouge the guerrilla group behind a reign of terror in the 1970s. Quot in the soviet Union and Africa the end of one party regimes presented opportunities for reforms but also raised concerns about instability. In Moscow Mikhail Gorbachev was out and the dissolving nation s Powers shifted to Russia Yugoslavia s entangled republics Vojvod Ina province regions with a single _ ethnic majority Over 50% a albanians a croats 0 macedonians 0 montenegrin a serbs i slovenians a others source Cia aps amps federation president Boris Yeltsin a hero of the botched coup by hard liners on aug. 18-21. The coup s aftermath spawned Independence movements among nearly All the 15 soviet republics and the removal of the communist party from Power. Latvia Lithuania and Estonia the Baltic nations annexed by the soviet Union in 1940, achieved Independence after the coup. In december the slavic republics of Ukraine Belarus and Russia announced a Commonwealth of Independent republics. Elsewhere the vicious civil War Between serbs and croats in Yugoslavia highlighted the threat ethnic disputes pose to a new world order. Yugoslavia a fragile ethnically diverse federation of six republics was shaken by the june 25 declaration of Independence by Croatia and Slovenia the country s two richest republics. A the year began with the Hope that somehow they would be Able to negotiate their problems. But the political wills were much stronger than common sense a said Milan Andrejevich a Yugoslavia analyst at radio free Europe in Munich Germany. Slovenia and Federal forces reached a truce after several weeks of fighting. But All out War raged in Croatia fuelled by the serb dominated Federal army a concern about the croatian republics Large ethnic serbian population and creation worries Over serbian expansionism. Thousands were killed As Federal troops and serb insurgents fought croatian forces and captured a third of Croatia s territory. As Yugoslavia was splintering leaders of 12 european Community nations met in december to approve treaties on political and monetary Union. Elsewhere in 1991, Africa was shaken by extraordinary change from the War ravaged Horn of Africa to Island nations off its Atlantic coast. Marxism and one party Rule fell in country after country after decades of oppressive corrupt administration. At least 19 african nations have now approved multiparty politics since a wave of violent demands for democracy began sweeping the continent two years ago. The changes can be linked in great part to the end of soviet and . Support that accrued during the cold War especially in the Case of Ethiopia and Angola one time proxy states where two Long civil wars ended in 1991. . From superpower to collapsed groping giant by Wendy Sloane the associated press Moscow a in december of 1990, Yevgeny Kayrin was a High ranking official at Moscow a City communist party committee where he presided Over meetings and party banquets and received weekly allotments of beef Chicken and cheese. In december 1991, Kayrin had a temporary Job lecturing on political theory at the Moscow teaching school. He has lots of free time which he spends standing in line outside grocery stores helping his wife shop. The Fate of Kayrin a heavyset Man who favors the drab Gray suit of the soviet bureaucrat mirrors the changes that wracked the soviet Union in 1991 the former superpower can barely feed its own people now and faces an Uncertain future. The August coup was the final kick that pushed the already wobbly soviet Union into collapse. Once a Clumsy conglomeration of 15 republics that supported each other by relying on centralized state subsidies the nation now is unsure which path to follow. The coup Cost Kayrin his Job. At the time he was vacationing with his family. He returned to Moscow Only to find All the doors and windows of his office sealed and guarded by police in accordance with a decree from russian federation president Boris n. Yeltsin. The coup also forced soviet president Mikhail Kayrin Gorbachev to resign his Post As general Secretary of the communist party. Gorbachev went on to resign his presidential Post dec. 25 after a majority of the remaining 12 republics joined the newly created Commonwealth of Independent states founded dec. 8 by the three slavic republics Russia Belarus an a Ukraine. Gorbachev the Man whose policies of perestroika and glasnost helped drag the country out of its totalitarian mild has no defined role in the Commonwealth. The party itself once touted As the Vanguard of the people no longer exists. When Yeltsin suspended its activities in Russia after the coup Many people were Happy to turn in their party cards. They said they had joined Only to further their careers. Quot when i began to work for the party committee everyone knew perfectly Well that my Job would Only be a temporary one a said Kayrin 46, who joined the party in 1970. He said he knew the party a Days were numbered. A the party was just not in the position to regulate events taking place within its own Structure. So As a political organization it gradually ceased to exist a he said. He added that because of the party a flaws his committee was expecting some sort of desperate action like the coup sometime during the year. Unlike Many former party officials who have been forced to Start life All Over again Kayrin did not have a hard time finding employment in the newly competitive Job Market. He has the soviet equivalent of a doctoral degree from Moscow state University a department of a philosophy a an umbrella term meaning marxist Lenist theory with a Smidgen of French philosophy and a dab of other Western theories thrown in. Gorbachev a wife Raisa graduated from the same department. Proud of his credentials As a a specialist a Kayrin said that when the party was suspended he was immediately offered a new Job in the Moscow pedagogical Institute. And he still works As an unofficial party organizer when he a not at work or helping his wife with the shopping. Others have not been so adept. Last week the Sovie Skaya Rossiya newspaper wrote about a former Komsomol communist youth league official who has been searching for a new Job for months without Success. Wearing a suit rented from a local theater shop he spends his evenings crashing fancy receptions at a downtown restaurant to bring food Home to his family and to collect bottles of Vodka and Beer to resell on the Street. Kafir in a life is bound to get More complicated. His new Post in Only temporary and will end when a colleague returns from maternity leave. His new salary is slightly higher than his party committee wages but he does not receive his former weekly food allocation of beef Chicken cheese and sausage rare delicacies for which most soviets must queue for hours. And the Only subject he is trained to Leach a marxist Leninist theory a is no longer in demand. A students these Days Are All different. There Are some who want me just to teach the history of philosophy there Are others who Are interested in marxism a Kayrin explained. Quot but those who know the history of philosophy know perfectly Well that marxism is one of the biggest breakthroughs in human and scientific theory a he said trying to sound convincing. A Yeltsin actually helped us communists. Only after party activities were forbidden did it become obvious which party members were real communists and which were careerists a he said. A for the future of the communist movement its important to know who a  wednesday thursday january 1/2, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 7