TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE

have to renounce its stifling role in the administration and economy of the country. Power and privilege would have to be curbed, and science and initiative given their head if the Soviet Union were to compete with the rest of the world, let alone be a superpower.” (Times of India, July 5, 1988) Perestroika Repeated failures to achieve, or even identify such production targets as would satisfy the requirements of the many peoples who make up the Soviet Union compelled Mr Gorbachev to bow to economic realities. Setting aside notions of socialistic superiority, (the Soviets considered themselves superior to others because of their socialistic set-up) he launched a campaign to change the prevailing system in the USSR. The keynotes of this policy are glasnost and perestroika, Russian words which mean respectively ‘openness’ and ‘restructuring’. Mr Gorbachev goes into the practical details of this policy in a book which has been published in English under the title of Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country and the World. This new movement brought about changes in the Socialist structure of the USSR, which could only be described as revolutionary. Its basic policy included everything from religious freedom to the development of friendly relations with the Soviets’ traditional arch enemy, the USA. This trend of thawing of strained relationships between age-old opponents, agreements for disarmament and settling for diplomatic solutions of international disputes is quite heartening. Roy Gutman’s account, originally published in the Los Angeles Times—Washington Post News Service, and relayed to Indian readers by the Hindustan Times (January 16, 1988) is entitled ‘Kremlin, White House Now Realistic’ (p.20). This report reveals just how historic had been the shift in US-Soviet relations. New thinking having emerged in both countries, the Kremlin and the White House have both become more open-minded about each other’s affairs. The extent to which attitudes softened is illustrated by Mr Bessmertnykh, a veteran diplomat who served 12 years in the United States. In an interview with Newsday he said that the American administration had been fond of making such statements as: ‘We shall draw the line, we shall go to the source, we shall stop the advance of Communism.’ “But now,” said Mr Bessmertnykh, “people have realized that the world has changed. You can’t do it any more that way. It’s impossible. Now both sides are becoming realistic. Their team and our team are both solution-oriented.”