In Memory Of Andrei Sakharov: A New US Policy Toward Anti-Communist Reform

The Center for Security Policy today released an analysis of the Bush Administration’s approach to communist governments that raises troubling questions about its priorities and purposes. The analysis, entitled An Emerging "Bush Doctrine:" "Stability" Over Freedom?, concludes that the Administration is going to great and undesirable lengths to prop up regimes from Beijing to East Berlin. Worse yet, barring a quick course correction, it risks favoring even repressive communist regimes over those who are struggling to replace them with democratically elected governments based on respect for basic freedoms and liberties.

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., the Center’s director, in releasing the paper said today, "As the world reels from the loss of one of the most courageous anti-communists of our time, Andrei Sakharov, it is time to take stock of U.S. policy toward the principles he exemplified and the movements he inspired. Unfortunately, recent official statements and the actions of President Bush and his senior advisors bespeak a troubling susceptibility to pressure from communist leaders not to ‘rock the boat.’ As a result, in China, the Soviet Union and elsewhere, the United States has found itself aligned not with the Sakharovs, but with their oppressors."

Gaffney added, "The motto for the emerging ‘Bush Doctrine’ seems to be ‘Love the one you’re with.’ It justifies accommodating the demands of Deng Xio Ping, Mikhail Gorbachev and those communists still clinging to power in Eastern Europe for economic, financial, technological and political support from the West as the price for ‘stability’ and the promise of future reforms. And yet, it should be apparent that such Western assistance may, if not handled in a far more disciplined and transparent manner, simply forestall real reform."

Roger W. Robinson, Jr., a member of the Center’s Board of Advisors noted that, "The latest Soviet economic plan eschews more radical, systemic reform called for by leading Soviet economists in favor of continuation of the crushing embrace of central planning. Notwithstanding the traditional reference to a greater emphasis on the production of consumer goods, it largely reflects ‘business-as-usual.’"

Gaffney concluded, "The new Soviet five-year plan is tangible evidence that large-scale Western assistance is having the effect of postponing rather than catalyzing the sort of genuine systemic change Sakharov sought. Unless a new ‘Bush Doctrine’ is promptly adopted, the United States and its allies could find themselves squarely supporting the wrong side — and undercutting the right one — in the momentous struggles for freedom now occurring around the world."