Third World Don't Call Us, Friend, We'll Call You

Cuba is not the only Soviet client looking at cutbacks in military and economic aid. Across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, other regimes experience hard times

Where do events in Eastern Europe leave the Third World? Up the creek.

That glum editorial comment from Zimbabwe's Sunday Mail aptly reflects the view of many Soviet Third World clients toward the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. Although most Third World states were never considered much more than pawns in the cold war waged between Washington and Moscow, membership in the Soviet orbit had its privileges. For decades, military, economic and political support flowed to those nations that dutifully toed the Marxist-Leninist line. Now, while the rest of the world gasps with delight -- checkbooks in hand -- at...

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