Reagan's Newest Friends
Posted by Daniel McAdams at June 8, 2004 08:40 PM

The Washington Times reports today that many ambassadors in Washington of countries "freed" by Reagan's policies in the 1980s are joining in with America's mourning, particularly grateful for the US efforts to put them in the positions of power they enjoy today.

As the Times reports:

An event Thursday night at the Romanian Embassy suddenly became more timely. Ambassador Sorin Ducaru is sponsoring a reception for the authors of "The Curtain Rises: Oral Histories of the Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe."

"It's taken on a new significance," said Ron Shapiro, who along with his wife, Susan, wrote the book based on interviews with grass-roots leaders who described their everyday struggles against communism….

Ambassadors Martin Palous of the Czech Republic, Andras Simonyi of Hungary, Vygaudas Usackas of Lithuania and Nikola Dimitrov of Macedonia are hosts of the reception.

The irony is that when President Reagan was chiding Soviet dictator Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" most of these same East European ambassadors were — you guessed it — serving as officials in the communist governments on the other side of the wall. You know, the ones that endlessly attacked Reagan and the "running dogs of capitalism."

Further irony, of course, is that it was the very institution created by Reagan that made it possible for these commies to undergo a mini-makeover and come out on top after the "system change" chimera in 1989, to the near total exclusion of the true anti-communist forces in the captive nations who struggled in prisons and regime-imposed dead-end jobs for decades — people like Vladimir Meciar in Slovakia, who US officials actively sought to undermine in favor of his "reformed" communist opponents.

As Lew writes about the Chinese "opposition" at Tiananmen Square, the opposition that the National Endowment for Democracy and its evil children the International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute supported in places like Hungary were not opponents of the regime from the Right, but rather radical — even Maoist — opponents from the far Left. These later made peace and teamed up with the former regime to become the new/old ruling class, with the generous financial and logistical support of the Reagan-created NED, IRI, and NDI.

So a servant of the communist regime like Hungarian Ambassador Andras Simonyi can cry his crocodile tears over Reagan's death, and the Bush Administration along with its media supporters swoon, while true Hungarian anti-communists like Viktor Orban and his free-market Fidesz Party are literally persona non grata in Washington.

This largely unwritten legacy of the Reagan era will continue to dampen any sense of gratitude that may have been felt among those oppressed for decades under communist oppression because they are similarly oppressed under neo-communist oppression (this time with the assistance of Washington). Ask the Romanians, who continue to be brutalized by the Securitate and Ceaucescu's high officials who have retained all power and control over commerce, with the additional bonus of official Washington's blessing. Oh why do they hate us…

"– people like Vladimir Meciar in Slovakia, . . . ."

Yes, an avowed "friend" to ethnic Hungarians everywhere!

Paul D. de Holczer

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