Can it really be just ten months since Hungary took its first tentative step toward democracy by passing a law to permit the formation of independent political parties? Last week Hungary's largest opposition party named a candidate for November's presidential election -- and he stands a good chance of winning.
Have only four months passed since Solidarity forces rejected an invitation from Poland's Communist leader to join a coalition government? Last week in Warsaw, Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze conferred with Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a longtime Solidarity activist and the first non- Communist to head a Soviet satellite.
And wasn't...