European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 21, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                10 the stars and stripes wednesday May 21,198s columns & comments Flora Lewis Aquino Manila the Philippines a great Deal is made Here of the differences in the Motley Crew that assembled into president Corazon Aquino s government after deposing Ferdinand Marcos. Indeed personal rivalries and jockeying for patronage Power arc probably. More important than contrasts of Outlook. Opposition to former president Marcos was the one thing thai brought them All together. That May be Why Aquino does t mind Marcos continued grasp for the limelight. She says that ii enables us to keep track of. What he s u p to but she does t seem to consider him a threat. His noise helps maintain her team s cohesion. The new leaders Aren t a particularly ideological group considerably Jess so than most european governments. They feel on intense pressure to produce results As quickly As possible which both unites and divides them be cause they argue about approaches. Vice president Salvador Laurel who has High ambitions for the succession said with passionate feeling during an interview this government must succeed. If it does to the communists will move o Lake Over and the minute the military senses thai is coming they i l act first. That will be the end of our Chance for  though he is the professional politician Laurel seems More emotional and misty minded than the woman who came ahead of him. He is the one who told president Reagan in Bali thai he had cobwebs of doubt about . Support and who argues that the roubles of the new philippine government should earn it unlimited indulgence. He does t appear very practical. But the dominant theme stressed by the new leaders is eminently sound. They say democracy Means thai individuals and communities must seize the initiative instead of wailing for government programs and Lar Gess that people Power now has to be put to building. Up he country after i is Success in tearing Down the old regime. Finances Are in a dreadful state and the country needs both an injection of Aid to get going and Relief from the immediacy of its overwhelming debt but it also needs to cultivate the new sense of competence and self Reliance thai Aquino has invoked. The . Should be supportive without creating a re lapse into the feeling of dependency. Meanwhile Japan has a greater stake in the Philippines than it is prepared to acknowledge. It should help More in its own interests and As a Way of Healing the lingering wounds and animosities from wartime conquests. The country is an important Market for Japan but has no purchasing Power now while he yen has Loo much. More important Japan has a strategic interest in the James Reston headed in Fife right direction health of filipino democracy which requires economic recovery. The to great american bases arc critical to the Security of Japan As Well Tokyo should consider economic Aid to the Philippines an investment in its own defense rather than arguing As some japanese leaders do that in should Wail to make sure there is political Labiti to. _ politics and economics Are completely interlocked. Aquino has a sophisticated strategy for dealing with the communist insurgency which was expanding rapidly under Marcos it is surely a mistake to berate her for offering to negotiate with the communists. She is in effect seeking to isolate them the better to Cope with the hard Core of irreconcilable revolutionaries. The offer of amnesty and cease fire is aimed at Reab Sor Bijj the lukewarm and wavering among the rebels. Rehabilitation lakes Money but in will enable the govern ment to show in has honestly tried for a peaceful Gener Ous solution. The hard Core insurgents Are unlikely to accept a cease fire. They Are already purging and killing some of their comrades who apparently want to turn themselves in. Meanwhile the army is reorganising and should be in a far better position to face the holdouts when Aquino decides it is Ime to take he offensive defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile says we will be  he seems to Admire the president. He told me if Marcos had followed the management style of mrs. Aquino he might not have faced the  the insurgency is More a political than a military problem he poin s out and Aquino will be facing it with Broad Politi Cal support. The . Is wisely avoiding any direct involvement in counter insurgency planning. It is As Enrile says an indigenous revolutionary movement Home trained and it is Best Home fought. The Philippines still have a Long Way logo but focusing on the problems  obscure the prospects. For once things Are heading the right Way. 1c new Vert Trail a we sir Pic. America passing into a new phase of its history or Rolv to itwrinr4inrwf  _ re. I a i Tut . I one of the interesting things about the Reagan administration s foreign policy is thai a majority of the american people As measured by the popularity polls support it while some of the most experienced Republican students of foreign policy looking to the future want to Amend it fortunately and surprisingly this suggestion for a reappraisal of the conduct or misconduct of our foreign policy is not Pri Marily so far an i be Between the two major political parties. The president is the one who is saying everything is of. And arguing the Ben Lance principle that All is Well and that if in Aln l broke Don t fix  Jeane j. Kirkpatrick for example Rea Gan s former ambassador to the u.n., has been in a Way the most thoughtful and precise defender of the Reagan doctrine of opposing communist aggression and expansion. But since she has come Home to Bethesda and univ Unity life in Washington she has been suggesting that we can t do everything everywhere but have to choose Between the primary and secondary prob lems of the nation s Security. Kirkpatrick says that contrary to what we often think. We arc vulnerable Capa bit of being destroyed in minutes. Our re sources Are limited. We like other nations need n foreign policy that gives priority to our Valiona Security her Point is not that Reagan is wrong but that he has to choose Between what is theoretical and what is practical and to recognize the limits of american Power. That she implies he has no done. Henry Kissinger comes at the problem from a different Angle. He insists that the time has come to reappraise is. Relations with the russians and the allies in Europe and he makes some Good Points. First he says it s unnatural for the continent of Europe with a population larger than that of the soviet Union and a Gross National product one and a half times greater than Russia so rely far so much of its defense on the United states. Second he says remembering Europe s apposition to the . Raid against the terrorists in Libya the untied states cannot Gram Europe a Vela aver its actions outside the nato area sinless it ii to abdicate its responsibilities for the global  accordingly Kissinger proposes that the major Allied nations establish a committee under the chairmanship of the Secretary general of nato lord Carrington to define frankly what differences Are foreseeable and How to manage  nobody could object to this but before this sensible suggestion has even been Dis cussed Kissinger proclaims that the conclusion is  some of the american forces now in Europe he says would contribute More effectively to global defense if they were redeployed As strategic reserves based in the United Stales and Able to be moved to world trouble  his Assumption seems to be that if the . Would begin withdrawing its troops from Europe the europeans would shape up and Bear the Burden of defending themselves. 6 maybe so but there is another View namely thai if the . Begins to pull its troops Back from Europe the european allies will not replace them but leave the smuggles beyond nato to Uncle Sam. _ when Henry Kissinger speak people listen. But the Kissinger doctrine ilk the Reagan and most other doctrines May Bea Little Loo neat. He is helpful in calling for a reappraisal of our policies but his prescription might be popular Wilh the isolationists at Home and also with the russians who have Al ways wanted to Divide the United states from its allies in Europe in Short Kissin Ger could be logical and All wrong. Then there Are other voices in the re publican parly who should be but att not often heard such As j. Irwin Miller chair Man and executive officer of the Cummins engine co. And a sort of a modern Wen Dell Willkie business homier. Our wonderful country in appears to me Miller says is on he wrong track in at least a few important areas. Our conversations our to our newspapers Ever our  Are unusually preoccupied Loday with systems and ideologies. This u very  anyway the main Point is that there is a general feeling in Washington now that were passing into another phase in the history of he Republic and that the ume has came to think anew about the future. Thai is happening in Washington and elsewhere now quietly and outside the headlines. It s a Good sign though Little noticed. 6 c it Vort tonns