The truth about Gorbachev’s reforms is that they are long on glasnost but extremely short on perestroika After five years of talk, the Soviet economy remains a government-owned-and-operated failure that cannot make good use of its own money, let alone that of foreigners. More than 2,000 “joint ventures” have been signed among Soviet organizations and foreign companies, but only 200 or so are working. The rest have run into bureaucratic roadblocks or been derailed in the maze of ministries, secret police and apparatchiks. There are 17 million Communist Party members still on the job who are consciously or unconsciously working to choke off real reform. Until the Communists are voted out and real reform happens, the West can’t really help Gorbachev beyond advising his reformers and educating Soviet citizens in the techniques of capitalism.
Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, by contrast, have succeeded in instituting genuine economic reforms. Yet they receive merely token help. For instance, Western Europe’s supermarkets are just a few hours’ freight-car ride from Eastern Europe with its fertile farms. But the European Community’s outdated farm policy bars most agricultural imports altogether. This demands reform.
Another major topic at the summit should be upgrading the status of Germany and Japan, economic giants that are treated like political pygmies. This imbalance is warping diplomacy around the world. Despite contributing billions, the Germans and Japanese took withering criticism from their allies during the gulf war. But they had no proper forum to respond. These two economic superpowers are badly underrepresented at the United Nations. At the moment, with no seat on the Security Council, Germany and Japan count for no more than any of the 157 other members that hold seats in the General Assembly. As such, they were barely consulted in George Bush’s management of the gulf war, a move that caused bitterness that will intensify if left unaddressed. Japan should get a permanent seat on the 15-member Security Council. Germany could share the permanent seats of France and Great Britain on a rotating basis. Security Council status for Germany and Japan would let them share in the decisions that they are now expected to finance.
History is running on fast-forward. In trade liberalization, and in the adjustment of political relationships within the free-world alliance, the seven big industrial countries should be trying to catch up. For the Soviet Union, on the other hand, there is little that these nations can usefully provide Mikhail Gorbachev–except advice and their very best wishes.
