1

Dr. Colombo has been a member of the Italian Parliament since 1946 and was Prime Minister between 1970-1972; Minister in charge of relations with the UN from 1972 to 1973; an MEP since 1976, he was President of the European Parliament in 1977 and 1979; he was Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1980 and 1983. He is currently President of the European Union of Christian Democratic Parties, Chairman of the European Parliament's Delors II Committee on follow-up action to Maastricht, and Chairman of the Italian Atlantic Committee.

2

NOTHING QUIET ON
THE EASTERN FRONT
Dr. Géza Jeszenszky,
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Hungary

Hungary has played a major role in the failure of the communist utopia - in 1956 by overthrowing it and exposing its real nature, then in 1989 by negotiating the peaceful winding up of the regime and so pushing over all the dominoes. Today, we can safely say that although the new era in world history began in 1989, the post-Second World War period only finally came to an end with the collapse of the Moscow coup last August. Thus, after 1918-1920 and 1945-1947, 1989-1991 was this century's third historic turning point, bringing about both a vertical and a horizontaldisintegration of the communist regimes, which broke up not only politically but also territorially, mostly along thelines of ethnic divisions.

3

THE COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES: STILL ALIVE THOUGH NOT KICKING.
Alexei Pushkov, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Moscow News

Predictably enough,Mikhail Gorbachev was right in his argument with Boris Yeltsin on the consequences of the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev's portrayal of an immense territory shaken by political confrontations, inter-ethnic conflicts and economic troubles turned out to be much closer to reality than Yeltsin's picture of a pastoral community of new independent states. But, although right, Gorbachev still belonged as much to the past as Yeltsin represented the future. Gorbachev's desperate attempts to conserve the Soviet Union as a federation of republics were eventually doomed to failure and, after the defeat of the August coup, nothing could really have stopped the fall of the already dying Union.

4

Director General of the North American Affairs Bureau of Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo. This article represents his personal views and does not necessarlily represent the views of the Japanese Government.

The Action Plan of the Tokyo Declaration on the US-Japan Global Partnership, which President George Bush and Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa announced in January 1992, underlined the importance of political dialogue between Japan and NATO. This contrasts sharply with the low priority hitherto given to a security dialogue between Japan and Europe

5

There is a remarkable correlation between the growth of democratization movements in Central and Eastern Europe (C+EE) and the proliferation of new ideas for multilateral cooperation. As the centrally planned economies proved unsuccessful and the former communist countries announced their commitment to the market system, cooperation initiatives between East and West European countries multiplied.

6

The collapse of the former Soviet Union coupled with the recent Gulf War with Iraq provides compelling evidence that defence against ballistic missile attack is more imperative than ever.

The stark consequences of ballistic missile proliferation in the Third Whorld were seen by millions of people around the world and felt by innocent civilians in Tel Aviv and Riyadh. Fortunately, we can only imagine what would have been the strategic consequences had Saddam Hussein possessed the ability to threaten with ballistic missile attack the undefended capitals of the world, including those in the NATO Alliance.