Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 17, 1990                   TAG: 9003222319
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

INDEPENDENCE

The tiny Baltic country has been an unwilling part of the Soviet Union since 1940. Now it is calling for Mikhail Gorbachev to put the promises of democratization into practice. Lithuania wants to be independent, but that's not as simple as it sounds.

The republic's movement away from Moscow has been sedate and low-keyed, but dramatic. An informal organization called Sajudis has been the force behind the drive for secession. Under the leadership of Vytautas Landsbergis, Sajudis has been fielding candidates in elections for two years, regularly beating hard-line Communists. It now controls the Lithuanian legislature.

On Sunday, the country declared itself independent.

Gorbachev's immediate response was to speed up changes in the Soviet congress that give greater executive powers to the presidency which he was about to assume. He also said that the Soviet Union would want repayment of the $34 billion in industrial development it had invested in the republic, should Lithuania leave the union. Lithuanians countered that they had not asked for the factories, and would not pay for them.

The Bush administration has been typically reserved in its reaction. Even though the United States recognized Lithuania as a country in 1922 and has never recognized it as part of the Soviet Union, caution is still the right course. Relations between the Soviet Union and its headstrong republic are balanced on a fine point. Any strong external action could tilt the situation in unpredictable directions.

Gorbachev's strengthening of executive power cuts against the grain of the other democratic reforms he has called for, but it's hard to argue against the cold realities of his situation. The Soviet Congress strongly condemned the Lithuanian independence. Clearly, many Russians do not regard Lithuania as a distinct country. Whether it separates completely or remains a part of the Soviet Union in some form, Gorbachev is going to have to use his new powers effectively.

Both he and his conservative critics, led by Yegor Ligachev, have rejected the use of force in dealing with Lithuania. For the moment, it appears that this settlement will be handled peacefully, though it is too early for firm predictions. Separation and divorce are never easy.

This conflict raises a larger question. What will the map of Eastern Europe look like 10 years from now?

Lithuania is a little country, bordered by larger, more powerful ones. For virtually its entire history as a nation, beginning in the 14th century, it has been occupied or controlled by outsiders. Before the Soviets, it was Nazi Germany, Czarist Russia and Poland. That's not meant to imply that the country is destined to be invaded. It means that part of Europe is prone to unstable borders and shifting alliances.

If the movements toward nationalism in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Soviet Georgia and the others move too quickly, Central and Eastern Europe could again become a Balkanized patchwork of weak, vulnerable countries. And nobody wants that.

The ultimate goal in the Baltics is stable democracies. U.S. interests are best served by changes that move at a realistic pace and produce lasting reforms. That probably means changes that move quicker than Gorbachev would like and slower than Lithuania wants.