Crisis for Gorbachev

After reading “When the Cheering Stopped” (editorial, Jan. 14) I started pulling out various articles from my library in order to read up on the history of the Eastern European neighboring animosities. There are unresolved conflicts between Romania and Hungary over the area of Transylvania; there is no love lost between the Ukrainians and the Poles over the Polish takeover of the western Ukraine; we are all aware of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and the Bulgarian-Turkish squabbles.

Some of these problems have been brewing for centuries and will come to a head once the republics finally extricate themselves from Russian domination. For the last 70-plus years, the Russians have kept the lid on any serious outbursts but the time has come when the steam is about to escape and the lid will be flying off. Maybe then lands taken over by other aggressors will be returned to historically rightful owners.

CRAIG HOWLAND

Malibu