Ever since the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) toppled the fifty-year-old dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle in Nicaragua in July, 1979, the United States press has paid consistent close attention to civil liberties issues, especially press freedom, in assessing the course of the revolution. On the heels of the FSLN victory, the Establishment media's attitude toward the newly reconstituted Central American state was one of suprised approval: This leftist regime had embarked on a unique form of reconstruction marked by a mixed economy and genuine respect for civil liberties. During the past two years, however, watchful anticipation has given way to stern judgment. Now, when reporting on the new government's human rights and civil liberties record, these press observers tend to picture a repressive, one-party state.

Each day two 20,000-ton freighters loaded with grain leave the United States for the Soviet Union. This flow of grain between two major adversaries is influenced by economic considerations such as the size of the Soviet grain deficit, the U.S. capacity to supply, and the Soviet ability to pay. Political considerations include the risk to both trading partners of such a heavy interdependence, whether as supplier or market.

Never before has a country dominated the world grain trade as the United States does today. Its 55 per cent share of world grain exports in 1981 easily overshadows Saudi Arabia's 24 per cent share of world oil exports in 1978. And while the amount of oil traded internationally has been falling since 1979, grain shipments are continuing to grow.