European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 3, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes thursday april 3, 1986 columns comments James Reston Reagan being More assertive in his second Ferm in his first term the complaint against president Reagan was that he was t in charge. Now the complaint is that he is in charge. The new White House staff wants Reagan to be Reagan and he seems to think this is a Good idea. Suddenly this Spring he is bursting with Energy like the daffodils on the White House Lawn. His language is More colourful his actions More extreme. He said the other Day that he has Only three More years to go and he seems in a hurry to Blossom while the Sun shines. It s not that he has come Forward with any new ideas Only that he s pushing his anti communist anti government convictions with unexpected vigor not Only talking about them but acting on them. He has made a major Issue out of Nicaragua against the advice of its neighbors ordered his helicopters and military advis ers to assist his Cia directed Freedom fighters in their Battle against Managua where he keeps an official . Embassy. He has decided that Moa mar khad Afy of Libya is not a nuisance but a menace who must be punished As a warning to All terrorists that by Golly hell teach these Pipsqueak a lesson no matter what the allies think. Even some of his own advisers in Washington Are wondering what s come Over him. Obviously he has his Dukes up. He says he wants to have another sum Mit meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev this summer about the control of nuclear weapons but he has rejected Gorbachev s proposal for a nuclear test ban exploded a nuclear underground device to prove his Point ordered half of the soviet delegation out of the United nations and sent a warship within listening distance of the soviet shores in the Black sea. So like the youngsters who were feeling their Oats at the easter recess he s on a Roll but where is he rolling this is what people in Washington and in Many other capitals would like to know. He needs the support of Congress to put Over his Domestic legislative program in what time he has left but he has argued his Nicaragua Case in such extreme terms that he May get his $100 million for the contras but lose the support of the con Gress on More important issues. He needs the support of the allies for his efforts to control nuclear weapons and terrorism but after his recent actions in Nicaragua the Mediterranean and the Black sea he is losing their Confidence not Only in Central America but in Europe. It s interesting How his own administration reacted to his Effort to Stop terrorism by his naval action against khad Afy. Some of his people at least in private had their doubts. For when Secretary of state Shultz was flying from Turkey to Greece and then on to Rome the other Day . Fighter planes were ordered into the air to protect his plane from attack. And orders went out to All . Embassies to be on the Alert against bomb cars and senators in route to the Middle East for their annual easter frolic were advised to stay Home and watch the basketball playoffs. Already there have been two other unfortunate results of this flurry of presiden tial activity. A few months ago even the Arab nations were embarrassed by Kheda by s outrageous behaviour. But now since the shooting in the Mediterranean the arabs have sided with khad Afy and against the United states an unhappy development when the president is still try ing to get the Middle East peace process going again. Also the president was calling for a bipartisan or non partisan approach to these foreign policy tangles but in the confusion foreign policy questions Are now More deeply involved in partisan politics than they have been for some time. In trying to explain All this self appointed psychiatrists Are looking at Ronald Reagan As he was in his first term and now As he is in his second. He seems so much More assertive now. When James Baker was the White House chief of staff he was apparently a moderating influence on the president s combative anti communist anti government instincts. Donald Regan the new chief of staff is a Blunt outspoken pugnacious former Marine maybe the most convincing and persuasive character around the president but he s not inclined to question the president s judgment. Leave him alone he says. And lately that s apparently what has been happening. On the two or three major questions that really interest the president he s now really in charge and what the democrats Are trying to do is give him just enough support to make sure he deals with the consequences of his actions. C new York times Flora Lewis Jaruzelski hoping Tor better .-polish relations the most interested and concerned bystanders of Mikhail Gorbachev s overhaul program for the soviet Union Are necessarily the countries of Eastern Europe. Although most have gone Well beyond reforms proposed by Gorbachev their prospects for going further Are inevitably defined by the standards of acceptability set i Moscow. So it was not surprising that Poland s Leader Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski welcomed the soviet program As a locomotive for growth in his own country. But it was surprising that in a Long conversation in Moscow Jaruzelski chose to stress More his Hopes for better relations with the United states and his grievances at Amer ican sanctions than his expectations of what the soviet changes May mean for Poland. He spoke to me for Over 2 /2 hours in a Small red Plush Salon of a guest mansion in the Lenin Hills. He was dressed in civilian clothes without any medals or insignia on his lapels unlike most soviet delegates to the communist party Congress and his Central theme was neither communism nor East West antagonism or other global issues. It was polish Ness polish Pride polish Patriot ism polish pain polish emotion. Twice he apologized for sounding bitter Over current . Policy and he went out of his Way to Praise what he called the great american people and their great contribution to the defeat of fascism a recognition of the world War ii Alliance that is generally taboo in Moscow. But he seemed even More bitter in his references to the last 40 years of communist government in Poland and its failure to satisfy his people s aspirations. He spoke of communists and anti communists in his country of peo ple who dislike his government and disagree with Jaruzelski putting himself in the third person but who nonetheless share Hopes for Poland. In the context of the flood of wooden words that poured from official Moscow his voice was refreshing Occidental candid. Gorbachev and his comrades had made implicit criticisms of the Brezhnev Era and Jaruzelski took the License thereby granted to speak openly against his own key predecessor Edward Gierek forced out of Power by the popular upheaval of 1980. He said sardonically that Gierek had been treated like a great Democrat in the West but he insisted that it was not the soviet Union that had prevented reforms in Poland because there had been no real efforts at Reform in either country during what he called the painful 1970s. Speaking on background not for direct quotation he reflected on the profound ambiguity of Poland s Situa Tion and his own regime. He said that he had decided to push the Button that is to declare martial Law at 2 . On dec. 12, 1981, because he Felt that the country was on the very Brink of a precipice. Martial Law was put into effect that night. But he claimed that it worked Only because soldiers who agreed with the free Trade Union Solidarity also recognized the danger. In 1980 and 1981, he said Poland was worrisome for the soviet Union it was a  he compared it without polemics with . Concern about Nicaragua saying that his country of 38 million people in the heart of Europe was much More important for soviet Security than Nicaragua or Grenada for the Security of the unite states. On nov. 4, 1981, Jaruzelski said he proposed a United Council of government Church and Solidarity in a meet ing with Cardinal Joseph Glemp and Lech Walesa. He said Glemp accepted but Walesa after consulting with other Solidarity leaders in Gdansk refused. What finally moved him to act he said was the meet ing of Solidarity leaders in Radom taped by the police and later played on polish radio in which the opening words of the communist internationale were parodied. He said he got along Well with Gorbachev and liked him As a human being but his main Point of satisfaction was not the soviet Leader s program. It was the display of n i a i. Called respec.1 for Poland and the fact that Poland had regained its position among allies. He Evi Dently left that Moscow had come to accept polish nationalism As a fact of nature and of Honor. So there was a contradiction in his acid and yet anguished warning that . Sanctions were driving Poland into Ever closer ties with the soviets. It requires no act of Faith to accept the sincerity of his dilemma. It is the polish dilemma. Like his country he is driven to play tragic role. V c new York times news service