DATE=4/17/95 TYPE=CLOSEUP NUMBER=4-08260 TITLE=GEORGE SOROS ON THE POST-COMMUNIST ERA BYLINE=LEOS ROUSEK DATELINE=NEW YORK EDITOR=PHIL HAYNES CONTENT= // ACTUALITIES AVAILABLE FROM S-O-D // INTRO: GEORGE SOROS, THE AMERICAN FINANCIER AND PHILANTHROPIST, SPOKE RECENTLY TO A GROUP OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND PROFESSORS ABOUT, WHAT HE CALLED, THE "PERILS OF THE POST-COMMUNIST ERA." MR. SOROS HAS PUT HIS MONEY AND VISION INTO BUILDING A NETWORK OF FOUNDATIONS AIMED AT ESTABLISHING OR RESTORING OPEN SOCIETIES IN FORMER EAST-BLOC COUNTRIES IN EUROPE, AS WELL AS BURMA AND SOUTH AFRICA. VOA'S LEOS ROUSEK REPORTS FROM NEW YORK. TEXT: BILLIONAIRE FINANCIER GEORGE SOROS SAYS IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS THE WEST HAS SHOWN A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO GUARD THE VALUES OF AN OPEN SOCIETY -- A SOCIETY IN WHICH NO CENTRAL POWER HAS AUTHORITY OVER ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE. MR. SOROS SAYS DESPITE THE CURRENT TREND IN THE WEST TO DIMINISH THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN PEOPLE'S LIVES, DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS STILL MUST PLAY A ROLE IN PROTECTING THE IDEA OF AN OPEN SOCIETY. IN A SPEECH TO A CONFERENCE AT BARD COLLEGE NEAR NEW YORK CITY, MR. SOROS OFFERED SEVERAL IDEAS ON HOW TO DEAL WITH THE POST-COLD WAR WORLD. MR. SOROS SAID THAT THE IDEA OF AN OPEN SOCIETY HELPED BRING THE DEMISE OF THE CLOSED, TOTALITARIAN SYSTEM THAT RULED THE FORMER SOVIET EMPIRE. HOWEVER, HE SAID WHAT REPLACED THAT SYSTEM VARIES THROUGHOUT EASTERN EUROPE. TAPE: CUT # 1 - SOROS "ONE HAS TO DISTINGUISH, OF COURSE, BETWEEN CENTRAL EUROPE, POLAND, HUNGARY, CZECH REPUBLIC, SLOVENIA, BALTIC STATES, WHERE IT'S (AN OPEN SOCIETY) MORE OR LESS (PREVAILING), FROM THE FORMER SOVIET UNION WHERE YOU'RE VERY, VERY FAR AWAY FROM IT. AND IN FACT, THE FORMER SOVIET UNION, EXCLUDING NOW THE BALTIC STATES, YOU HAD A PROCESS WHERE THE OLD SYSTEM WAS DISINTEGRATING WITHOUT A NEW SYSTEM TAKING ITS PLACE. AS OPPOSED TO THE CENTRAL EUROPE WHERE IMMEDIATELY THE COMMUNISM WAS GONE, PEOPLE WHERE EITHER LOOKING TO EUROPE, LOOKING TO THE FUTURE OR AT LEAST THEY COULD LOOK TO THE PAST AND GO BACK TO THE SYSTEM THAT PREVAILED PREVIOUSLY. TEXT: ON RUSSIA, MR. SOROS SAID THAT HE HAD ORIGINALLY FORESEEN IT BECOMING A SORT OF BLACK HOLE, AFFLICTED WITH EVER WORSENING SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DETERIORATION. BUT LAST YEAR A NEW SOCIAL ECONOMIC SYSTEM BEGAN EMERGING. UNFORTUNATELY, HE SAID, IT WAS A SYSTEM DOMINATED BY "ROBBER CAPITALISM", AS HE CALLS IT -- NOT QUITE WHAT RUSSIA NEEDS. TAPE: CUT # 2 - SOROS "IT WAS BROUGHT ABOUT BY A VERY RAPID PRIVATIZATION WHERE THE ASSETS OF THE STATE WERE DISTRIBUTED TO THE PEOPLE AT PRACTICALLY NO COST. THERE WERE AT LEAST POTENTIALLY VALUABLE ASSETS THERE, LIKE OIL AND RAW MATERIALS. SO PEOPLE STARTED GRABBING; SOME CLEVER PEOPLE STARTED GRABBING THOSE ASSETS." TEXT: GEORGE SOROS IS SKEPTICAL ABOUT THE FUTURE STABILIZATION OF THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM IN RUSSIA. AS HE SEES IT, THE CURRENT FOCUS OF RUSSIA'S REFORM EFFORTS IS -- "WHO WILL GRAB THE STATE"; IN HIS WORDS, "THE EVERYBODY-GRABS-EVERYTHING PRIVATIZATION" FEEDS LAWLESSNESS AND IMMORALITY IN THE SOCIETY AT LARGE. THE HUNGARIAN-BORN PHILANTHROPIST SEES TWO POWER GROUPS WHICH COULD BENEFIT FROM THE DEVELOPMENT OF SO-CALLED ROBBER CAPITALISM. ONE IS THE RESOURCE INDUSTRY AND THE OTHER THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. MR. SOROS TOLD THE GATHERING OF SEVERAL HUNDRED STUDENTS AND PROFESSORS IT IS TIME FOR WORLD LEADERS TO RETHINK THE POST-COLD WAR WORLD ORDER. HE SAID THE WEST HAS SQUANDERED SEVERAL OPPORTUNITIES TO ESTABLISH A FUNCTIONING NEW INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM. HE CITED THE CIVIL WAR IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA AS ONE SUCH MISSED CHANCE. [OPT] MR. SOROS VOICED PARTICULAR CRITICISM OF THE BOSNIA POLICIES OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. HE SAID THAT BRITAIN, ACTING AS EUROPEAN UNION CHAIRMAN IN 1992 WHEN THE FIGHTING IN BOSNIA ERUPTED, PUSHED FOR SENDING UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING FORCES TO THE REGION WHERE THERE WAS NO PEACE TO KEEP. TAPE: CUT #3 - SOROS "IT DISCREDITED THE UNITED NATIONS. IT HAS DISCREDITED THE WESTERN POWERS AND AS A SIDE EFFECT IT ALSO GREATLY DAMAGED NATO. BECAUSE UNTIL ITS INVOLVEMENT IN BOSNIA IT HAD BEEN A SOURCE OF UNTESTED AND THEREFORE IMPRESSIVE STRENGTHS. BUT AFTER BOSNIA, NATO IS NOT QUITE WHAT IT WAS BEFORE. SO YOU HAVE NOW A SITUATION WITH NO INTERNATIONAL ORDER AND THEREFORE YOU HAVE THE PROSPECT OF INCREASING INTERNATIONAL DISORDER." TEXT: ASKED WHAT COULD BE DONE ABOUT THE WAR IN THE BALKANS NOW, MR. SOROS SAID IT IS DIFFICULT TO DO ANYTHING. THE BILLIONAIRE PHILANTHROPIST NOTED HIS ORGANIZATION'S AID EFFORTS AIMED AT PREVENTING THE CONFLICT FROM SPREADING INTO MACEDONIA, THE SOUTHERNMOST REPUBLIC OF FORMER YUGOSLAVIA, BORDERING GREECE. SHOULD FIGHTING ERUPT THERE, HE ADDED, THE SECURITY INTERESTS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION COULD BE DIRECTLY ENDANGERED. GEORGE SOROS SAID MAYBE THE TIME HAS COME TO CHANGE THE ROLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND NATO TO MAKE THEM PILLARS OF A FUNCTIONING INTERNATIONAL SECURITY SYSTEM. HE SUGGESTED THAT THE UNITED NATIONS MIGHT BE DIVIDED UP INTO SEVERAL INDEPENDENT ORGANIZATIONS. (SIGNED) NY/LR/ES/PCH 17-Apr-95 12:42 PM EDT (1642 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .