European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 14, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes saturday december 14, 1985 William Safire Pondexter becomes Reagan s Xor. Option three yol r Sec rotary of state thinks  Mikhail Gorbachev at the recent Summit meeting used for Muhi Lions of language that revealed an unexpectedly flexible attitude about the soviet occupation of Afghanistan. In fad some american negotiators were certain that the new language old be incorporated into the conference s joint statement pro Viding a Small breakthrough. Your secret a a of defense disagrees. Me thinks fior Bachch s departure from stilted diplomatic language was merely a manifestation of his informal style and should not be taken a any change of soviet position and at the last moment in Geneva the soviet Side walked at publicly using the Gorbachev formulation. As president you wonder. Should you Cut Back on Covert Aid. Encouraging the supposed willingness of the russians to pull out or should you toe the hard line increasing Aid to afghan Freedom fighters lest they be crushed by a soviet Winter offensive Ai such a moment with department Heads at loggerheads you turn to your National Security adviser for his judgment. Whal sort of opinion w ill you get that depends on whal sort of adviser you pick. If you choose a National Security adviser with a pronounced Weltanschauung a Kissinger or by Czinski you will get the Independent judgment of an opinionated authority. Such advice by its nature invites friction and demands Deci Sions. If you choose an adviser adept in the Art of whal the bureaucracy Calls option three the presentation of five options ranging from abject surrender As option one to nuclear War As option five you will be led toward thin Gruel consensus splitting the difference in the opinions of your departmental and intelligence advis ers. In choosing adm. John  to succeed col. Robert Mcfarland presi Dent Reagan has indicated that Al this stage he wants a Man who knows How to give him option three. In picking his National Security adviser. Reagan prefers a broker to a player. This is an indication of second term Reagan. In most of his first Tim. When Wjk new directions required wrenching around National Security advisers were factors Richard Allen was a profound hard liner with a solid background in strategy serving until Michel Caver shot him Down William Clark was a shallow hard liner with no strategic experience serving until he wore out both counted in decision making. Mcfarland the tightly contained apparatchiks operating Between the doves of defense and the Hawks of state saw himself As a Lubricator rather than a Force. A born no. 2, he is succeeded by his own no. 2. This is not to denigrate the mind of . A Man with a doctorate in nuclear physics can hardly be a dumb Bunny that education will be helpful in answering the Union of terrified technocrats on the feasibility of Star  although the vice Admiral is not known for published works on strategy he is reputed to be one of the most skillful note takers in the Reagan administration. We can expect his military title to at Rophy quickly As did that of Mcparlane and Gen. Scowcroft his order following predecessors and we can be certain that a sudden Poindexter strategic brilliance will be discovered by news organizations newly dependent on him for background. Why then the Wistful look of might have been on the faces of Hawks and old rag Arnauts Al the president s Choice of or. Option three we miss the confrontational zest of the first term when Reagan was More Likely to make a controversial rather than a soothing Choice. We yearn for the influx of Strong thinkers to resist the Onset of Nancy ism the lust for an illusory Quick peace fix to snatch a place in history. These Days however the qua life sought by the president Are that an appointee be up to Speed As deputies Al ways arc or that the new face be familiar and not a jarring new intellectual presence. The president is comfortable with  say White House aide eager to tuck the Reagan presidency in. White Housebroken. A Comfort poin Richter will be hol Dity out option three on Afghanistan. But hit appointment adds piquancy to the fint Beauty contest to be held in n t Hampshire next week when Many of Utt Republican hopefuls gather to Honor the editor William lock. By an appointment so Low key As to be no key Reagan help to shift the focus of ferment out of tie White House and onto the hustings. C new York time new wry let Flora Lewis off camera South african blood flows us As fast South Africa sought to justify the orders it is sued nov. 2 to keep reporters and photographers away from scenes of violence with the claim that their pres ence provoked the violence. It was Hogwash. And the evidence shows that. Vio Lence has continued unabated. After the attempted blackout was imposed there were 13 killed in Mac la i in one Day. Unrest in Black communities has in creased if anything. It was t staged for cameras. But there remains the question of How successful the authorities have been in hiding the struggle. Obviously Pretoria was t just trying to conceal the news from its own constituents. There has Long been censorship. The Point was to hide it from the rest of the world particularly from americans. The most serious blow to the apartheid regime so far much More effective than sanctions has been the run on the Rand the reticence of foreign Banks to Grant credits the second thoughts of investors about the safely of their capital. Pretoria apparently concluded that these people would t Recac i Floc scenes were kept off to and front pages. Lack of news has t stopped fighting in Afghanistan or Between Iran and Iraq. It is possible to shut Down All but a trickle of information about countries that Don t want the world to know How they repress their disaffected people. The Price is total dictatorship and isolation from the free Community. That is South Africa s dilemma. It wants to belong to the Western world not to be shut off As a pariah. It wants to maintain the Good life for its privileged Whites which requires keeping economic cultural and other contacts. It wants the assurances of democracy the satisfaction of Freedom but Only for the ruling minority. In the Long run it won t work As the United states found out in the civil War. Meanwhile South Africa s partial news ban is a Challenge to Western Media. The Challenge is not Only the imposition of a Rass mints and barriers with which reporters and Camer amen have had to become familiar in full scale police states however. It is a Challenge to the ingenuity determination and integrity of those whose profession it is to provide the news. Newspapers have had an easier time than to in South Africa. Reporters Don t stand out so obviously As camera Crews they can sometimes Duck around and get to the scene of action. They have contacts whom they can interview after incidents have happened and they can Tell the Story even if they Are obliged to take it secondhand. Print journalists have to request police permission and accept a police escort to observe troubles thai break out. Nonetheless editors say they arc getting and pub Lishing the facts. But television and radio people have been ordered to stay away from emergency areas., on pain of imprisonment High fines and expulsion. Television has a greater problem which present i conflict Between news judgment and ethics. Inevitably television goes for the Story with the Good dramatic picture. Should that policy be deliberately overruled when pictures arc blacked out by government order the answer is clearly yes. It is the responsibility of editors to continue presenting the news even in the duh form of an Oral report against a Blank screen of i background of earlier file pictures with an explanation every time that South Africa has banned films of cur rent events. Network officials say they Are doing what they can. South Africa complains that earlier report gave a misleading impression of the whole country " names. The lbs foreign news editor Sam Rote to says it could do More in greater depth if it we Reni refused sufficient visas. He says we won t give up. This is a test for american journalism but also for the Public. It will influence future editorial judgment if the results show that people arc l interested link they Sec shocking Pic lures or if icy show they can t to hoodwinked by the blackout and understand its Purpo. It s a Fine Case for demons trading what both purveyors and Consumers mean by a free press. Com a York Tymn Newi mrs let 1� Colum in ind or Loon on Ini of 1 1"1tea " " " Coni lotto of Reto " conilovt01 int Slort ind so rec i or in  Shoi