European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 6, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes thursday March 6, 1986 William Safire the object of diff for Fopp ing is of win not share an old political saying goes an Orchid from your opponents is like an onion from your  i make up instant adages like that when no quotable Wisdom is Handy for one of those strange situations that cry out for Folk Wisdom. The anomaly is the embarrassment Felt by the Reagan administration at the wide spread Praise for its two successful interventions in the internal affairs of Haiti and the Philippines. Despite demurrer the . Had a Strong hand in the overthrow of a couple of right Wing dictators. Selective interventionism lives As a result the Rea Gan men Are getting accolades from a commode zionists and the administration is uncomfortable. The president is worried that the lesson drawn from his recent policy decisions will be that it takes a conservative Hawk to carry out the Jimmy Carter foreign policy of harassing our authoritarian allies. Today Haiti and the Philippines Tomor Row Why not Paraguay Chile Taiwan South Korea South Africa and Egypt to reverse the Liberal spin being put on the lesson to be Learned a Trio of heavy hitters Laic last week rounded up a score of the Media s usual suspects. In the family theater of the White House a place not a Way of governing the president Secretary of defense and a state department official of Cabinet rank who cannot be identified because he remained on background participated in the soap opera of reality called As the press  after some preliminary on the record softening up by the president and the Secretary of defense the Nunama ble official from state said something to the effect of i would like to draw your attention to  that is not necessarily a direct quote As i want to obey the rules and be invited Back but it rep resents the thrust of his opening. I think our attention will be drawn to the communist state in Central America because the lesson of our recent timely and pro democratic Rug Pullings is this you say you like this topple the dictator Busi Ness you dig the return to democratic elections of the oppressed Peoples of the world you salivate Over a coup or anti totalitarian revolution that can be brought off without a . Casualty Tell you what we re Gonna do we re Anthony Lewis out into the cruel a ext cab and a ? Tref business Ini Iowa in next Dook Gonna finance the overthrow of the dictatorial regime of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. And while we re at it we re Gonna help Jonas Sav Imbi topple the corrupt dictatorship in Angola. You like toppling you la get toppling. The democratic dovecote will Call this a foolish consistency pointing out that the Dif Ference Between toppling eighties and lefties is bloodshed when we topple a non communist he takes his Money and runs but when we help the topples of communist regimes their totalitarians shoot at the people. The administration will come Back and say that not All consistency is foolish. We re for human rights we re for free and honest elections and if people who Are fighting for them want our help the fact that some Are willing to die for democracy should not Stop us from arming them. Accordingly we can expect to see the president meeting with Nicaragua s con tras giving them legitimacy we will see him on television using the example of free Manila to put the heat on tyrannize Man Agua and we can anticipate a Good legislative fight for honesty in Aid As the Rea Gan men lobby for an end to calling a machine gun a Medicine kit. I Hope the heavy hitters make their Case to the american people because we ought to be helping democratic insurgencies wherever we think the result will be More not less democracy. Where popular non communist majorities exist pull the Rug where popular anti communist movements Are growing push the Rug. A question arises about Power sharing where communists always take Over. The president believes that in the Philippines there can be no sharing of Power with communists and he s right but in Nicaragua the Reagan men talk of a return to democratic process which i take to mean we will Arm the contras until the communists Are ready to make a Deal to share Power. Now that is inconsistent. If we arc to get serious about supporting the contras Rea Gan should Cut the pretence about Power sharing. Rather than help them not to lose we should give them the Means to win not to Settle but to topple. The background briefer had a Good question we know that president Marcos in the end could not order the mass shooting of his own people would Ortega do the same of course not the dictator of Nicaragua would ruthlessly Blaze away. Take that answer to its conclusion by deciding to sup port the contras we must not fool our selves or them. The goal of dictator toppling is not to share Power. The goal is to win. C new York times news service Olof a me a soft voice of reason and humanity when the political Leader of a Small coun try engages the imagination and the respect of leaders around the world he must have special qualities of Char Acter. His persuasiveness comes not from Power but from himself. Olof palme was such a person. Argentina has declared a Day of mourning for him and so has India. Henry Kissinger whose views were utterly different called him a warm Friend somebody with whom i very often Dis agreed but greatly  what was it about this swedish politician that touched so Many people of diverse cultures and ideas there was no great external drama about him. His voice was soft his manner unassuming. He relied on reason. I first met him in 1969 just before he became prime minister of Sweden. It was at the Congress of the social democratic party that chose him As Leader. In the Middle of what was for him a crucial political occasion he talked philosophically of what he hoped to do. Complacency is a terrible danger he said. A politician should t say everything s Fine. He should talk about what is wrong. We in Sweden can be Happy about not having the excitement of Northern Ireland or the race problem. But there is a real risk for us. You have to try to  in the years since then he had come to give More emphasis to what Sweden had achieved a caring society where people feel a responsibility for each other. He showed growing skill at handling the inevitable Domestic clashes Over taxes and inflation and Union claims and the like the tensions of egalitarianism and economic growth. He was More a healer less a provoke. The other thing he said Back in 1969 was that he wanted to make swedes care More about the world. And that he did to an extraordinary extent. He was known in the world for his efforts on behalf of arms control peace and economic development. They were frustrating activities challenging ideology and Power and nationalism. But he did not go into them in terms of abstract idealism. He worked at them tenaciously trying to find practical political solutions to problems As daunting As the Iran Iraq War. He was chairman of the Independent commission on disarmament and Security issues which had As its Mem Bers important figures from 17 countries including the United states and the soviet Union. The palme commis Sion reached a consensus on the most sensitive issues of National Power and in 1982 issued a report common Security that remains a Model of reason. One noteworthy aspect of the report was that the soviet member Georgi Arbatova agreed to a Call for on site inspection if needed to verify compliance with arms control agreements. That was an important signal of Chang ing attitudes that has now borne fruit in Mikhail Gorba Chev s emphatic acceptance of the inspection principle. Then last year palme joined five other Heads of government around the world in calling for reversal of the nuclear arms race. Before the Geneva Summit meeting they urged president Reagan and Gorbachev to suspend All nuclear tests for a year and negotiate a comprehensive test ban treaty. But palme did not just act As an individual in those International efforts. He made his people care. He showed that a Small country on the fringe Long committed to neutrality could become deeply committed As a society to International goals Justice Freedom compas Sion survival. That will last. His successor Ingvar Carlsson has been described As More of a Domestic politician. But he is internationally engaged on scientific and environmental questions. He was designated by palme to develop a proposal by Sweden and India for Neutral countries to pro vide verification procedures for disarmament agreements using satellite technology and other Means. Jerome Wiesner the former president of Mit who worked with palme on arms issues said "1 never saw him unpleasant to anyone under any circumstances. But he had a toughness that kept him  in a world of violence and unreason of weapons piled on weapons hate on hate he was a soft voice of reason and humanity soft but determined. The terrible irony is that he died by unreasoning Vio Lence. No death since John Kennedy s has been More fearful witness of the kind of world this has become. But Olof palme has left us the example of caring. Not Many statesmen live the familiar words of John Donne no Man is an Island entire of itself every Man is a piece of the continent a part of the main. And there fore never Send to know for whom the Bell tolls it tolls for  c new York times news service