The destruction of the Berlin Wall in late 1989 marked, in a symbolic way, the beginning of the end of the Cold War, at least insofar as that era in modern history is defined as an ideological and geopolitical struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States, between Russia and the West. That great event, which set the stage for the reunification of Germany and the end of the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe, had earlier been preceded by the reforms of glasnost and perestroika that Premier Mikhail S. Gorbachev had begun to engineer in the Soviet Union. Taken together, these astonishing developments became a cause for great celebration, especially in Europe and the United States. But history happens quickly these days. What most would consider the news of a lifetime now travels from the headlines to the backpage before we can fully appreciate its significance.

After the events of 1989, the focus of media attention and public policy shifted dramatically to developments in the Middle East, notably the Gulf war, to the demise of the Soviet Union, and to the “New World” that President George Bush and others hope to build on the ashes of the old order. There has not been a lot of time for careful reflection on what the end of the Cold War means to governments and people around the world. To be sure, editorial writers continue to fill the press with commentary on different aspects of the subject, much of it very incisive.