America is at war, and its citizens are understandably fixated upon events in the Persian Gulf. But that should not blind us to a development of even greater magnitude currently taking place: namely, the Soviet regime's concerted attempt to roll back the liberalizations of the 1980s. We appear to be witnessing the beginning of an ambitious rolling coup, which threatens to spread from the Baltic to the remaining twelve Soviet republics. The Gorbachev "center" seems to have launched a kind of slow-motion civil war against the constituent republics and such pro-democracy elected bodies as the Moscow City Council. In the economic sphere, the Soviet leadership has taken a decisive step away from market reform back toward Brezhnev-era central planning.
How could this have happened? And what does it signify for the future of East-West relations in the 1990s? Clearly much of the explanation lies in the elusive personality and actions of the Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev. Those who follow Soviet politics closely have been aware almost from the beginning that the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party is not the luminous "democrat" and "champion of peace" touted by the legion of Western Gorbophiles. Nevertheless, important changes have been evident in the recent positions embraced by the Soviet leader. Throughout 1989 and 1990, Gorbachev was steadily moving toward a restoration of authoritarian rule.
