Answer:decade that brought the end of the Cold War and most other wars, the spread of democracy practically everywhere and the rise of environmental consciousness cannot be all bad. (Alternative intro: A decade that saw the rise of AIDS and the drug wars, the crushing of the democratic aspirations of one-fifth of mankind and the advent of the ozone hole and the greenhouse effect is a decade that leaves a lot to be desired.)
Well, of course. History is like the curate`s egg: good in parts. But I have been a professional gloom-monger for a long time now (no news is good news, but usually, for journalists, good news is no news), and I cannot remember a time when I felt so optimistic about the state of the world.
Conditionally optimistic, certainly. All the good news and hopeful prospects could go down the tubes without so much as a gurgle if there is a successful counter-revolution in the Soviet Union-which is a possibility, though one that diminishes slightly with each month. A reactionary regime in Moscow would not just be bad news for Soviet citizens; it would blight all our lives.
To maintain itself in power and justify severe domestic repression, a reactionary, neo-Bolshevik regime in Moscow would need foreign enemies. That would mean a return to the Cold War and an acute crisis in Central and Eastern Europe.
Worse, the international system, which is just starting to show signs of functioning in accord with rational and human values, would collapse into deadlock again. This would thwart all attempts to coordinate action on the really important long-term issues that affect all mankind: the environment, and the gulf between North and South.
But assuming (with fingers crossed) that the Soviets can keep their manifold problems under control and stagger onward toward their constantly receding future of democracy and prosperity, then the sea change in the international environment is real. The world may still be overwhelmed by its long-term problems in two or three more decades, but at least this change creates the possibility that that time will be used to try to solve the problems.
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