European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 14, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes wednesday May 14, 1986 Ellen Goodman in the soviet Union it s hard to get the word out now it is chernobyl Hal lights tip on our International map of anxiety. Chernobyl. Bhopal. Three mile Island. Places that explode out or anonymity. For the half life of our own mention Span such names become shorthand for disaster. There is an eerie qualify to this techno logical horror Story. Like it reverse lesson in political geography the closer you get to the scene the less is known. In Stockholm so Miles away children Are warned not 10 drink the Rainwater. In Poland families line up Tor iodine. But fit Kiev so Miles downstream from the atom plan there is More said about May Day than nuclear mayhem. Titis vast knowledge Gap struck some familiar chord. Exactly a year ago in Moscow 1 had a conversation with a Young journalist who acted As interpreter. After a session with three bureaucrats that bored him As much me we went to a local Coffee shop and talked about journalism and censorship. Andre was among the elite of his soviet generation. He was informed about Ameri Ca Down to our coupons and not reflexively defensive about the soviet system yet at one Point animated by debating our countries attitudes toward information he reached for his analogy in the u.5.5.r. We do a Tell a Patien of he has cancer. Many limes we treat people like they ire children to be it was Clear that Andre approved i asked other soviets including two Doc tors whether such withholding was com Mon. Pcs was told of course it was for the Good of the patient who might give up Hope upon hearing such a forbidding word. Even a Rufu Schilc a doctor in a local clinic who was opposed to so much in the system agreed with this procedure. When i explained that for the most pan american doctors shared this information with the patient she Shook her head i think that is so when chernobyl melted Down and spewed out it was no Surprise that swedes had to make the diagnosis with their own Geiger counters europeans furious at soviet radiation crossing their frontiers without a visa were even angrier James resign amp mow some More official Thul ii crime without warning they chalked it up id the soviet mama for Cov ering up mistakes. But i think it goes deep or than that straight to the belief that the slate should treat people like they Are children to be protected. Openness is hardly a. Given in the United slates. The manag Mem at three mile Island did not choose to broadcast its Acci Dent in exquisite and immediate detail. But in the soviet Union press and politicians have the same employer As the plan Man Agar. They arc part of the Sale s contract in return for giving up political will the soviet people arc promised Security the slate tries to deliver it even when it has to be wrapped lit lies the ies Hal Are told when n terrible truth is withheld. The soviet doctors that i met did not hesitate to Tell i hair patients if they had a broken leg or the flu. The leaders m least in this new open Gorbachev Era talk More freely about factory flaws and five year plan flops. They talk about what they can cure. It is Only when confronted with something lethal that they revert to the Protection Racket. The impulse to shelter people from worry in fact shelters the authorities from being confronted with their own impotence the broken contract. What do we do in contrast that same afternoon Andre said shaking his head in bewilderment you say Here is the information. Now you Are on your is Ruth in a re often overwhelmed by in formation. We suffer a glut of disasters one following the other like headlines night links All carrying the same weight. Tylenol and terrorism astronauts and aids. We arc spared few details of disaster and disease. Americans Are nol promised Protection but we Are Given the information to de Mandil ii is indeed this demand that has stopped the building of new . Nuclear plants. In a disaster where the soviets have dealt with children they have infuriated adults. Chernobyl his become a Symbol of soviet cover up instead of a warning of what one Small and peaceful nuclear Accident can mean to the world. In the West we Are warned of the Long Long term effects of this disaster. The word that is spoken is i wonder what word the doctors will use when they real the patients in the clinics near chernobyl. Tel Wun reign poll will sri group Hope Springs eternal during troubled week of May tiir1 Tinct Harp in fief .1. ". A. I ,. In the first week of May 1936 Here were some glimpses of common sense in the world even some signs of cooperation Between the quarrelling nations and politicians it May not last but it was a week to remember. The Senate of the United slates for example in a remarkable sign of bipartisan support for Long overdue lax Reform voted for it 20 to 0. The president and leaders of the business Community meeting in hot Springs a. Gave in their Messing almost As if they were voting for Mother s Day also in one of the most moving tributes to the judgment and integrity of one of its members the Senate voted unanimously in support of sen. Starry Gold Aler s motion for the most sweeping Reform of the defense department in 39 years for those in this Corner and elsewhere who have been inclined to think in recent years Hal personal political and special concerns always dominate the National inter est these two events Are reassuring. For most of his Long and distinguished career in the Senate and As his party s presidential nominee Goldwa Ter has been the most faithful and even Tierce defender of a Strong military defense. But he has come to believe that Pentagon Reform is As important As tax Reform and has devoted his lost term in the Senate to that objective he convinced his colleagues against the judgment of the president and the joint chiefs of staff thai Reform was necessary and when they backed him unanimously and moved to pass the Barry Goldwater department of defense reorganization act of i9b6, he stood on crutches in the Well of the Senate and protested. The Senate overruled him. Damn he said. The hell with in. When you get old you get to the Palm where you can t say thank you. I la just shut up and let you do what you later he settled Down and Laid a few reporters that his Pentagon Reform Bill was the Best thing he had done in the Senate. Now 1 can go Home Happy sit on my Hill and shoot Jack rabbits there s a popular complaint these Days that the people Are helpless against the Power of events that institutions arc beyond their control and that Persona convictions and individual voices Don t mean much. But there s a least some evidence on the other Side. The tax Reform Bill is a Case in Point. For years All across the political spectrum there has been general agreement thai the old system was a complicated and unfair mess but that nothing could be done about it against the Power of he special interest lobbies. Even abroad by cooperation than by fierce Competition. American Industrial leaders Are beginning to under stand that Japan s Success is the result of cooperation Between government management and labor. General motors for example is now experimenting with a joint management agreement with labor to produce a new Carin Tennessee. And even the leaders of the Industrial nations meeting on the first week in May in Tokyo agreed not much but some Hal they could t Dea with world terror or finans or Trade alone unless they consulted together and Cooper ated More than they had done in the past unfortunately at first the russians did t understand his unavoidable relationship among the nations when their nuclear reactor blew up in the Ukraine they could t control the deadly Cloud Drifting across their Borders so they tried to control the news and found they could i control that either. So lately they have been blaming the West As usual but also calling for its help to put out the fire and help but a few stubborn characters kept hammering away leh run quietly for tax Reform. Among them were sen. Bill Brad. Zottl Al "t,6 and abroad then maybe it was useful Ley of new Jersey and rep. Richard Gephardt of mis i 1j?�me problem came to a crisis Ami a few politicians " it v to them and called for correction. We May now gel a Little More cooperation on tax Reform defense re form and terror control for it s increasingly obvious that none of these Basic problems can be resolved Only by party or even National policy. In the first week of May inn in i of j�tn4 a. J1 a Gephardt -. Soun. Sen Bob Packwood the chairman of the Senate finance committee finally look up the Battle and persuaded his colleagues Hal they had More to gain by defying the lobbyists and voting the Public interest it s this idea that has gained some ground namely that maybe More Progress is to be made at Home and that idea seemed to be making Progress Tel me York to in
