also in november, the velvet revolution began in what was then czechoslovakia. the communist party announced it would hold free elections by december. brazil also held its first free elections that december after 29 years of military rule. that year ended with rumania and dictator -- and vaclav havel assuming the presidency of czechoslovakia, which would soon divide. this led to the dissolution of the soviet union itself within two years. in 1989, is 23, i could not have been more optimistic about the future of my world, my countries and the prospect for democracy. i would not say this with any embarrassment at the time. as stories of successful dissidents emerged from these revolutions, it became clear that the new communication technologies we have invited into our lives had played a part. the proliferation of facts machines and eastern europe and the soviet union received almost instant credit for facilitating activism and awareness among dissidents. one business writer, voiced the fall of communism in eastern europe is the direct result of new information te

is started 20 years ago today when people in the former cze czechoslovakia rose up against communism.t was a milestone event that helped bring down the iron curtain. czechoslovakia later, of course, peacefully split into the czech republic and slovakia. >>> the pentagon investigating ways to spot problems with members of the military before they erupt in violence. a response to the ft. hood shootings. a department, a defense department spokesman says the investigation will go beyond that case. one military official tells the associated press the probe will try to quickly assess whether the armed services are missing any red flag behaviors among their troops. >>> things may get safer for you on long distance bus rides. the ntsb twaunts to require seat belts and tougher roofs on buses. this is after an accident such as the one in georgia where 13 college band member was lurt. the plan also bans drive frers texting and tries to prevent driver fatigue. the american bus association says it welcomes the idea but objects to some of those proposals. >>> startling new news how distracted teena

monopoly of communist party power in all the countries including some that wereç not occupied.ñr czechoslovakiaability of the army. but say it is all in our imagination. i have read problems ofxd communism and some say the war will be a revolutionary war. second, the domestic problem is inverted. it is for better or for worse and some degree to worse easily to build domestic support to spend money on defense.çç the least of theç problemw3 is convincing people that the defense budget is too small -- i'm sorry -- that it is easy to convince people that the defense budget needs whatever we have asked for. it is hard to convince people that the budget for roads or schools or the environment or pensions or healthcareu is bigr enough. it is not true to say thatçóç person of the 1990's was a desperate effort to conjure up nonexisting threats to justify what was a shrinking defense budget almost all of that period of time. and by the way, in the paper i know it is kind of cheating to say it is in my paper but i didn't say it which may imply i didn't think it was serious. one funny thing about nato

her current book, she was co-editor and co translator of irreconcilable differences explaining czechoslovakia's dissolution. she has authored many articles, essays, op-ed that have appeared in "the new york times," financial times, "washington post," and she has had numerous fellowships' i will mention a few. overseas she had fellowships' in prague and moscow and she has been a fellow at harvard center for european studies, harvard center for science and international affairs, brookings institution and contributed to a number of very important studies including the princeton project on national security. so, after we hear from dr. stanger we will open it up to q&a, and then she has agreed to stay here and sign her books. so we hope that you will all take it vantage of getting a book. thank you once again for joining and for having us. [applause] >> thanks very much for that very generous introduction, and it's great, it is absolutely great to see so many of my former students in this audience as alums of middlebury college in american foreign policy i know i'm going to get some good questions.

would like to mention what -- i would like to mention the question of tourism and of freedom in czechoslovakiand poland. they said had no relevance whatsoever. the point i'm making is tourist travel, i'm not talking about the other 18 categories, the notion that allowing tourists to go to the areas where basically the hotels are, areas you are aware of that i have visited, those people are going there somehow to promote democracy by interacting with the cuban people, it cannot happen. >> i asked you for evidence. you say it had no effect, i'm asking you, are there instances where isolating the regime has had the opposite effect that you can point to? i would say the to cannot. mr. sosa will make a compelling argument that in gauging the cubans in allowing travel and other means will foster democracy and you argue it doesn't. i would suggest you have no more evidence on your side then he has on his. >> my evidence is history. there have been millions of millions people from all over the world, democrats who have gone for over 50 years to keep up -- >> you are making the reverse argument. tell m