ABSTRACT
The fear of losing control of important allies perpetuated the rigidity of Europe's division. Fears of local conflicts may have increased, but the fear that potential conflicts may provoke world war, or redound to the other superpower's advantage, are fading as genuinely independent political entities claim the full sovereignty in Central Europe. There was a liberal element to the revolution, it was crushed and then mostly assassinated. It took about a year and a half for that to happen, there were only three months into the revolutions of Eastern Europe. The most important thing as to what has to be done in security terms, is to make sure the East European governments do not go the way of new dictatorships. The governments of Eastern Europe are facing enormously complex problems which they have solved in some sense.
