United Nations Eastern Europe

U.N. Says East Bloc Marshall Plan Needed: United Nations economists forecast growing social unrest next year in the Soviet Union and the former East Bloc, with depression and unemployment pressuring governments to abandon economic reform. The U.N.'s Economic Commission for Europe argued that a Marshall Plan type of coordinated Western assistance could put the region on the road to recovery and political stability.

If the stories of battered women and AIDS sufferers can be made into compelling Hollywood dramas that propel some people to action, couldn't the same expectation be had for those involving the plight of starving children in Somalia or prisoners in Serbian-run concentration camps? That's what the Geneva-based United Nations commissioner for refugees hopes. The agency has taken the unprecedented step of asking a select number of Writers Guild of America members to travel under U.N.

Shortages, strikes and political upheaval have cut sharply into East Bloc economic growth, and the outlook is grim for the winter, the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe reported Thursday. The commission spoke of "general and significant" slowing--particularly in light of some national plans for 5.5% growth in 1989. East European gross industrial output rose just 2% in the first nine months of this year despite plans to beat the 1988 increase of 4%, the commission said.

U.N. Says East Bloc Marshall Plan Needed: United Nations economists forecast growing social unrest next year in the Soviet Union and the former East Bloc, with depression and unemployment pressuring governments to abandon economic reform. The U.N.'s Economic Commission for Europe argued that a Marshall Plan type of coordinated Western assistance could put the region on the road to recovery and political stability.

If the stories of battered women and AIDS sufferers can be made into compelling Hollywood dramas that propel some people to action, couldn't the same expectation be had for those involving the plight of starving children in Somalia or prisoners in Serbian-run concentration camps? That's what the Geneva-based United Nations commissioner for refugees hopes. The agency has taken the unprecedented step of asking a select number of Writers Guild of America members to travel under U.N.

Czechoslovakian Finance Minister Vaclav Klaus didn't need any more grief, but he got it when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Even before the Middle East crisis, Klaus, a former dissident economist, was already the butt of jokes in Prague for his sweeping new moves to impose discipline on the Czechoslovakian economy during its shift from Communism to a market-oriented system.

Czechoslovakian Finance Minister Vaclav Klaus didn't need any more grief, but he got it when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Even before the Middle East crisis, Klaus, a former dissident economist, was already the butt of jokes in Prague for his sweeping new moves to impose discipline on the Czechoslovakian economy during its shift from Communism to a market-oriented system.

Shortages, strikes and political upheaval have cut sharply into East Bloc economic growth, and the outlook is grim for the winter, the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe reported Thursday. The commission spoke of "general and significant" slowing--particularly in light of some national plans for 5.5% growth in 1989. East European gross industrial output rose just 2% in the first nine months of this year despite plans to beat the 1988 increase of 4%, the commission said.