Back in the U.S.S.S.?

"What's in my name to you? It will wither out, like a sad sound." That line from Pushkin might describe how some members of the legislature of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics feel about . . . well, about the name Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Supreme Soviet is debating whether the country ought to get a new name once the proposed treaty of confederation among the 15 constituent republics of the U.S.S.R. is approved. Three suggestions: Union of Sovereign Socialist States (U.S.S.S.), put forth by none other than Mikhail Gorbachev; Union of Euro-Asian Republics, a coinage of the...