Eastern Bloc

Regarding Conrad's upside down Europe ("Now what do we do?" Dec. 12), maybe the secret to understanding Paul Conrad's work is to turn them all upside down! DONALD MUGGERIDGE Rolling Hills Estates

Twenty years ago, on Sept. 11, 1989, the plug was pulled on the bathtub of Soviet empire. At the stroke of midnight, tiny communist Hungary threw open the gates to freedom and the West. Tens of thousands of people surged across the suddenly unguarded border. Scenes of jubilation, of families reunited after decades of captivity in Eastern Europe, flashed around the world. Newsweek's cover dubbed it the "Great Escape." From one day to the next, Americans awoke to a startling new reality.

It is thrilling to see so many Eastern European nations struggle to pull away from repressive government and Soviet control. It would be equally thrilling to read about Central American nations finally being freed from the horrors of U.S.-sponsored war and repression. I fear I will have to wait a long time to read such good news. ANN BOURMAN Los Angeles

Watching Cuba's national baseball team play can be a little like watching a supermodel walk down a runway: They're both elegant, full of confidence, and though they never look like they're in a rush, they eventually get where they're going. So when Cuba began to stir in the final inning of its Pan American Games opener with Panama there was no doubt a game-winning rally was coming.

FEW would argue the point that the current boom in Hollywood night life dates back to two entrepreneurs: Jon Sidel and Sean MacPherson. The pair, whose cachet always seemed to be enhanced by the actresses on their arms, brought Hollywood such legendary watering holes and eateries as Small's K.O., the Olive, Swingers, Jones, Good Luck, Bar Marmont, El Carmen and Dominick's. The bottom line is they were cool guys with good taste who had a lot of interesting friends.

Scars from decades of socialist oppression, and the escapism and magical realism they ruefully evoke, dominate the works of Eastern European filmmakers these days. Revolutions, war and genocide frame new films from Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania that were shown recently at the Berlin film festival.

FEW would argue the point that the current boom in Hollywood night life dates back to two entrepreneurs: Jon Sidel and Sean MacPherson. The pair, whose cachet always seemed to be enhanced by the actresses on their arms, brought Hollywood such legendary watering holes and eateries as Small's K.O., the Olive, Swingers, Jones, Good Luck, Bar Marmont, El Carmen and Dominick's. The bottom line is they were cool guys with good taste who had a lot of interesting friends.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Thursday that a Seattle couple are entitled to sue the CIA for reneging on an agreement to support them for life. The two contend they spied for the U.S. against a former Eastern bloc country before the CIA brought them to this country more than 15 years ago. The U.S.

Some concepts are bound to arouse the skeptic in almost anyone. Painless dentistry. Easy assembly. Vanilla Coke. How about the idea of an engaging three-part, six-hour documentary on the evolution of the global economy? PBS has crafted just that with "Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy," a surprisingly brisk tale that speaks plainly to the intellectually curious--not just the economy wonks.

As a founder of the local Solidarity trade union, Wieslawa Karykowska learned long ago to expect the unexpected from her bosses at the car and truck plant here. But nothing in 29 years on the job, not even a revolution that brought down communism, prepared the old union hand for Yoo Choon Sik. There he was one pleasant morning, the company's No. 1 employee--the president and chief executive officer--picking through flower beds and sidewalk crevices with the mien of a hired hand.

Long the economic leader of the former Eastern Bloc, Hungary suddenly finds itself in the throes of a painful retrenchment while its government beats down suggestions that it is becoming the Mexico of Eastern Europe. Although Hungary has drawn nearly half the foreign investment in the region since 1989, huge foreign debts and a massive budget deficit forced the government on March 12 to announce an immediate 9% currency devaluation and deep cuts in social welfare benefits.

Desperate for ways to recover from its post-Communist economic slide, Bulgaria is turning again to the arms industry--the motor of the national economy before the Soviet bloc collapsed. Government ministers no longer heed Western demands that the arms industry convert to civilian production. Orders for weapons are rising again, bringing jobs to a poor nation with 16% unemployment.