All Clear, Comrades?

Resident Russian correspondents in at least three East European capitals, Warsaw, Bucharest and Belgrade, have a pet theory about the Watergate affair, which is both unintentionally amusing as a bit of Byzantine fantasy and also revealing about the paranoia that still often underlies the Soviet view of the world. The theory goes like this:

"Reactionary elements" in the American Government, ruling circles and big business have been bitterly opposed to Richard Nixon's policy of rapprochement with the Soviet Union. They were galled by his trip to Moscow, infuriated by his policy of increased trade--but the final straw is the planned visit by Leonid Brezhnev to the U.S. next month. So they have got together and cooked up the Watergate scandal in order to discredit Nixon and sabotage his policy toward the Soviet Union.

One incredulous American reporter's comment on this scenario: "Then how come it's been liberal newspapers and politicians leading the attack on Nixon, if the whole thing is a plot by the reactionaries?" The Russian comeback: "Look at Barry Goldwater. You call him a liberal? Wasn't he one of the first to talk about impeachment?"

And so it goes.

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