Defiance

Nicolae vs. Moscow, again

Rumania's President and party boss Nicolae Ceausescu has long defied Moscow in foreign policy matters. His is the only Warsaw Pact country that did; not break relations with Israel after the 1967 war, did not join in the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia and does not allow, a Soviet military presence on its soil. Ceausescu has cultivated ties with Peking and has endorsed the U.S.-sponsored Middle East negotiations.

Now he is displaying his independent streak again. At a Warsaw Pact summit in Moscow, he rebuffed Soviet demands for increased defense spending. Later, in Bucharest, he told a "workers' meeting" that he would not make "exaggerated expenditures" on arms. Ceausescu added; that Rumania "will not surrender to anyone the right to involve the Rumanian, military in any action"--a clear message to Moscow that Bucharest intends to keep its forces out of Soviet control.

At a meeting of parliament and the Central Committee, he spoke out against "interference from the outside" and observed, intriguingly, that his country "traditionally had friendly relations" with many NATO countries, some of which have "helped us in our struggle against foreign domination." He was frequently interrupted with applause and chants: "Ceausescu, we will overcome."

Why should Ceausescu be sniping so earnestly at Moscow just now? Some West German analysts, noting a cryptic Ceausescu reference to "counterrevolutionary elements" being stirred up elsewhere "to rise against their governments," speculate that he may have uncovered a Kremlin-backed plot against him. Whatever the cause, Ceausescu's performance has been popular in Rumania, which probably cannot divert more resources to its military without further straining a weak economy that already produces the East bloc's lowest standard of living.

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