the heads of state or the representativesnof 33 European and two North Americannstates in late July and early Augustn(once again that fateful month!) ofn1975. Overlooked in the mindfuddlingneuphoria induced by thatn”historic” conclave was the crude factnthat at the very moment of signing, thenSoviet Union was violating no less thannsix of the ten general Principles enunciatednin the preamble as properlyn”guiding Relations between ParticipatingnStates.” (Article III — Inviolabilitynof Frontiers; Article IV—TerritorialnIntegrity of States; Article V —nPeaceful Settlement of Disputes; ArticlenVI — Nonintervention in the internalnaffairs of others, etc.)nThere was, however, one observernin the West who did not lose his headnin the midst of the triumphant clamor.nIn a blistering critique written for thenFigaro in Paris, Raymond Aron roundlyndeclared that “if there were still anreal statesman, in the United States ornin one of the main countries of thenWest, this comedy would not haventaken place.” I don’t know if HenrynKissinger read that article; but if he did,nhe must have blanched at finding himselfnso casually relegated by his onetimengeopolitical rival and later friendnto the trash-heap of second-rate politicians.nSince then 13 years have passed,nand everything Raymond Aron fearednand foresaw has come to pass. RednArmy soldiers continue to occupy Bohemia,nwhich Bismarck once called thenheartland of Europe and the strategicnkey to the control of the continent.nWhen, last July, some incorrigible optimistsnreported that the Kremlin wasngoing to make a goodwill gesture bynbeginning to withdraw its army ofnoccupation, this fanciful canard wasngrufHy shot down by the Soviet premier,nNikolai Ryzhkov, during a visit tonPrague — although he did generouslynhold out the hope that Soviet troopsnmight be withdrawn “before the end ofnthe century”!nToday, the Brezhnevite GustavnHusak has been replaced by the neo-nBrezhnevian Milos Jakes, an apparatchiknof the same ilk who is pursuingnthe by now classic cat-and-mousengame with dissidents, occasionally jailingnthem for a few weeks, deprivingnthem of university and other posts, andnforcing them to take menial jobs asnlumberjacks, street sweepers, boilerstokers,nor janitors as a punishment forndaring to suggest that their countrynhonor the “free movement of personsnand ideas” promised by the Helsinkinaccords. In Prague, if not in Moscow,nCommunist “orthodoxy” still reignsnsupreme — so much so that Mrs. EvanFojtikova, wife of Jan Fojtik, the regime’snNo. 1 ideologist, saw fit toncelebrate the 20th anniversary of thenSoviet invasion of her country by writingnan article in Kmen (the weeklynorgan of the Union of CzechoslovakiannWriters), praising Joseph Stalin!nAs the French say, “Plus qa change,nplus c’est la meme chose.” But thencrucial question remains, one that thennext administration should be requirednto answer, no matter who wins thenpresidential election: how much longernmust we wait before one of our “stars”nin Washington has the courage tonsuggest that the present Soviet leadershipnprovide concrete proof of its disarmamentnintentions by pulling its fivendivisions out of Czechoslovakia? Ornmust we, like the well-conditioned circusndogs we have become, go onnmeekly cringing and cowering,nnumbed by the thought that merely tonraise such a question would be annintolerable “provocation” for thenKremlin — one certain to raise Sovietnhackles and to make our State Departmentndiplomats quake in their Foggy-nBottom slippers?nCurtis Gate is a historian and biographernwho now lives in Paris. Inn1945 he served with a Russian liaisonnteam attached to the US Army’snTwenty-Second Corps in Pilsen,nCzechoslovakia.nLetter From thenLower Rightnby John Shelton ReednThank You for SmokingnA wise man once observed that thenexistence of a nation requires that manynthings be forgotten — in particular,nthose things that divide its people. Maybenthat’s why the South never made it.nBlack and white Southerners have hadntheir little disagreements in the past, ofnNEW FROM Lbeit>/>E«_nMODERN AGE:nTHE FIRSTnTWENTY^FIVE YEARSnA SELECTIONnEdited by George A. Panichasn’hese seventy-eight essaysnJl present the richness and diversitynof recent conservativenscholarship. This indispensablensourcebook tackles the pressingnproblems in American societynand the modern world.nModern Age was foundednin 1957 by Russell Kirk, withnHenry Regnery and David S.nCollier. Most of the major conservativenthinkers and themes ofnthe last three decades are representednin nine sections, includingnthe “Roots of American Order”;n”Law, Legislation and Liberty”;nand “Not for Marx.”n894 + XX pages. Foreword,neditors note.nHardcover |!33.00n0-86597-061-0nPaperback ,811.00n0-86597-062-9nPlease send me:nModern Age: The First Twenty-Five YearsnQuan.nPricenAmountnHardcovernPaperbackn$33.00n11.00nSubtotalnIndiana residents add 5% sale;ntaxnTOTALnWe pay book rate postage.nPlease allo’x approximately 4 ixeeks for deliver-^.nAll orders must he prepaid in U.S. dollarsn• Enclosed is my check or money order madenpayable to Liberty Fund, Inc.nQ Please send me a copy of your latestncatalogue.nAddressnCitynState/Zip _nnnMail t«i: l,ibert- Fund. Inc.n744(1 N. ShiiJclamI Avo.. Dcpl. V 10.1nImliauiipcilis, rN 4(,2.’;i)nDECEMBER 1988145n