Return of the Liberators

When Czechoslovakia last week celebrated the anniversary of its liberation from Nazi Germany, it found itself occupied once again--by the country that "liberated" it in 1945. To compound its embarrassment, Czechoslovakia had to play host to the man who was ultimately responsible for ordering Russian invaders into the country in 1968: Soviet Party Boss Leonid Brezhnev.

On his first visit to Prague since the occupation began, Brezhnev brought along a high-powered Soviet delegation, including Premier Aleksei Kosygin and Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. The Czechoslovak regime that succeeded exiled reformer Alexander Dubcek (see box page 29) seemed obsequiously anxious to prove just how far it had progressed toward "normalization." Prague was bedecked with Soviet as well as Czechoslovak flags. Brezhnev was heartily applauded in the elegant gold and white Spanish Hall of Prague's Hradcany Castle when he addressed a combined session of the Federal Assembly, the National Front and the Central Committee. All three bodies have been thoroughly purged of reformist members, sometimes on Brezhnev's personal orders. Czechoslovak Party Boss Gustav Husak dutifully thanked his visitors for their "international assistance," and Brezhnev was formally named a "hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic" for the "liberation" of the country.

To make sure that Czechoslovakia stayed liberated, Brezhnev brought with him a new 20-year Soviet-Czechoslovak friendship pact, even though the current document was not due to expire until 1983. The most important change was the formalizing of the Brezhnev Doctrine, which proclaims Moscow's right to "defend" any member of the Warsaw Pact against "military or revanchist forces." The treaty also calls for mutual military assistance in case of attack, "no matter what state or group of states" is involved. That provision, which the Kremlin wants to insert in the friendship treaties that it has imposed on all the East-bloc countries, would apparently obligate those countries to aid Russia in case of a Sino-Soviet war. Some bloc members, noting that past friendship pacts were designed to foil only "aggression" from the West, are reluctant to comply. Rumania has already indicated dissent.

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