MARCHING FORWARD INTO THE PAST. “

The government of Belarus aims to achieve in the year 2001 the level of economic development and social protection of Soviet times,” Prime Minister Syarhey Linh proclaimed yesterday at an international conference in Minsk. The government will use planning and regulation of the economy, rejecting the free market as “destabilizing” and any “hurried” privatization as apt to “inflict serious damage on the state.” The government will “not conduct the experiments that some wanted us to conduct.” (Russian agencies), June 4. The International Monetary Fund is closing its office in Minsk after the government had ignored the IMF’s recommendations and declined credits that would have supported reforms.

UKRAINIAN COAL STRIKE STAMPEDES A WILLING PARLIAMENT INTO CONCESSIONS.