Both of the headlining articles in the March 8 ”Perspective” section on the Gorbachev regime were marked by tones of warm admiration for Gorbachev`s
”bold program of reform.” However, a careful reading of these articles lends no support to this attitude.
The only substantive evidence of ”reform” offered is ”a cultural renewal” which amounts to artists` freedom to criticize–not Gorbachev, but his predecessors and their appointees; the proposed release of a few hundred political prisoners out of many thousands; and the belated withdrawal of the immoral and inadmissible Soviet opposition to U.S. strategic self-defense.
Nonetheless, Gorbachev is praised for ”a sense of style and sophistication” and a ”mastery of public relations”–which is true; after all, he has thoroughly bamboozled at least these two gullible newsmen.
