Drowning Democracy

Mr. Bukovsky, exiled in 1976 after a long stint in Gulag for dissident activities, is the author of, among other works, To Build a Castle.

EVEN before the “August coup” finally exposed the stupidity of Western policy toward the Soviet Union, that policy was demonstrably wrong. Western policy-makers did not falter in their support for Mikhail Gorbachev—even though their expressions of friendship were not translated into the massive infusion of money Gorbachev had originally hoped to obtain in London this summer, or into some kind of “grand bargain” such as the one cobbled together at Harvard’s Kennedy School. Responsible heads of state, it is said, must seek stability in world affairs. They still cling to the old wisdom of all mediocrities, choosing the devil they know over the devil they do not know.

VB

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Vladimir Bukovsky

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Mr. Bukovsky, exiled in 1976 after a long stint in Gulag for dissident activities, is the author of, among other works, To Build a Castle.

EVEN before the “August coup” finally exposed the stupidity of Western policy toward the Soviet Union, that policy was demonstrably wrong. Western policy-makers did not falter in their support for Mikhail Gorbachev—even though their expressions of friendship were not translated into the massive infusion of money Gorbachev had originally hoped to obtain in London this summer, or into some kind of “grand bargain” such as the one cobbled together at Harvard’s Kennedy School. Responsible heads of state, it is said, must seek stability in world affairs. They still cling to the old wisdom of all mediocrities, choosing the devil they know over the devil they do not know.