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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 1, 1990                   TAG: 9005010362
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

LITHUANIA: NO ANALOGY TO CIVIL WAR

RECENTLY, Soviet spokesman Gennady Gerasimov and a letter written to this paper proposed the American Civil War analogy as an excuse for Gorbachev to deny Lithuania its independence. Beside the fact that it is morally wrong to deprive this nation of democracy, the excuse is not feasible because the analogy just doesn't work.

First, none of the 11 Southern states was originally forced into the United States. Four were of the first 13 states, and the others willfully and enthusiastically joined the Union later. The South was occupied for 12 years after the Civil War. However, since Federal troops left in 1877, there have been no rumblings for independence or secession.

Lithuania, on the other hand, has always wanted to be an independent nation and has never wanted to be a part of Russia. Since the 12th century, Lithuania has been a single entity, and since 1795 has fought against foreign oppressors. Lithuania regained independence after World War I, only to be swept up by the Nazi war machine and signed away to the Soviet Union in 1940.

Gorbachev has denounced the Stalin-Hitler pact and called it illegal. It's time for this "Soviet Lincoln" to put his money where his mouth is and release Lithuania and the other Baltic nations. JAMES T. JORDAN ROANOKE

by CNB