European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 10, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes wednesday december 10,1986 Tom Wicker there s still a Chance for limited arms Accord forget those sweeping potential agreements such As the elimination of All nuclear weapons or was in Only strategic nuclear missiles thai the Rea Gan administration insisted were still on the table after the breakdown of the Iceland Summit. After president Reagan s precipitous plunge from Grace it is questionable whether Mikhail Gorbachev even wants to enter further negotiations with a weak ened president about to leave office and faced with an opposition Congress. The soviet Leader might easily conclude that Steps like those discussed at Iceland would be possible Only for a Strong new president with a cooperative Congress. Besides if watergate is a guide Reagan Well May be so preoccupied with defending himself and holding together his administration that he will have Little Lime or Energy for arms control. And without a president s vigorous personal commitment especially when his administration is As divided on arms control As this one is no major agreement is possible. Time moreover is Short if a treaty is to be ratified before Reagan leaves office probably he d have to Send it to the Senate before the end of 1987, leaving it to be debated in an election year. And even if such treaty could be negotiated in time Reagan might Well have been too weakened by the collapse of his iranian adventure to push a controversial agreement through a democratic Senate with a new president possibly Democrat with his own ideas about arms control soon to be elected. A Chance nevertheless remains for a use Ful but limited strategic arms agreement ironically the Prospect for such a step May even have been enhanced by disaster. In his dire new situation Reagan whose approval rating dropped this week from 61 percent to 50 percent while his unfavourable rating Rose to 48percent from 36 percent in a Wall Street journal Nec news poll might conclude that Only an arms control agreement can save his administration and redeem his reputation. Thai s the right Wing s Nightmare that a Strug gling president will give away the National Security in desperation agreement but even if Reagan were will ing to make such a Deal and it s demeaning to him for his erstwhile supporters even to fear it there d be no Chance for Senate ratification. Instead to get an agreement the president probably would have to scale Back his sweeping arms control ideas and go for something simple and limited. He might for example pick up some of the threads of potential agreement from Iceland and enter into say a five year Deal with Gorbachev along these Gener Al lines Lone time nose where sran bar deployment of but permit Laboratory re search on space based defense for that period re search probably could not proceed beyond the Laboratory anyway. Reduce strategic nuclear weapons by an agreed percentage on both sides probably less than the 50 percent both sides have bandied about. Continue enforcement of the abm treaty As traditionally interpreted and Mutual Observance of Salt on the latter Point the new democratic Congress May Well Force a weakened president to return to Salt ii anyway by refusing to provide funds for weapons exceeding its limits. The House approved such a step in its session last year the new Senate would be Likely to concur. Limited though it would be such an agreement would give Reagan some degree of the strategic arms reduction he has said he seeks without his having to give up his cherished strategic defense initiative. In return he d be giving Gorbachev equal reductions and some degree of further Assurance against the space based defense the russians so strongly oppose. A five year agreement moreover would leave Rea Gan s successor whether Republican or Democrat Nec Essary flexibility to develop his own arms control proposals and his own policy toward ski. And it would enable Reagan to leave office on a note of achievement that the iranian fiasco makes it hard to envision on any other major Issue. Is the president Likely to Sec in that Way his insistence on breaking Oul of Salt ii even a he political troubles deepened is not encouraging. On the other hand those troubles Are far from Over. The investigations Are just beginning and to paraphrase Rea Gan from better Days he Ain t seen Noshin yet. Tto Wych ten he sent Flora Lewis France conf ass with Poland in Impact of protests Paris it is strange resuming from Poland to find Paris Seething with Stu Dent protest cleaning up the debris of wilful destruction in some streets plan Ning a general strike. Warsaw is terribly quiet five years after the imposition of Martini Law. It is the sad quiet of utter frustration of Little Hope that there can be change for the better. Adam Schaff who was expelled from the communist party last year for not toting the line after 55 Yean of Loyal service is something of an exception. He is 73 years old. He played an important role As an ideologue in Poland s 1956 upheaval but he concedes now that the attempt for renewal failed because the leaders would neither change the system that clearly was t working nor give up any Power. He is still a True believer in what be Calls revolutionary socialism but he says it has to be achieved in another Way sup by step without Force which is a 19th-Century he is one of very few in Poland now. In the immediate aftermath of world War ii Many among polish youth shared his vision. Today s Young generation completely rejects the ii Gime and its ideas. It does t March or Call strikes be cause that is recognized As futile and dangerous but it is lost to the rulers. The students of Paris and most other French cities have taken to the streets. Their movement began a couple of weeks ago to protest a new higher Edu cation Bill. The French University system does need Reform but they objected to some clauses that they Felt undermined principles of Equality and open Access. As one of their leaders said at the Start we have a right to an education and we have a right to be consulted on How it s organized/1 the government withdrew the Bill monday. But meanwhile one student has died and Many students and police men have been injured. The issues advanced now have to do with the government s reluctance to Lis ten to grievances and acknowledge Stu dents rights not Only to speak but to be heard and especially with the harsh be Havior of the police. But there Are even larger under lying resentments against a government Tat though democratically elected seems to students to be ruling by Fiat excluding the weak and tie unprotected. The deeper grievances arc Only begin Ning to be articulated. The most immediate concern is unemployment. One in three French youths is without a Job not counting students whom one commentator called the occupied in a sense it is scarcely a political Issue because the pub Lic has come to feel that none of the established parties Are willing or Able to make a big difference. But it is widely perceived As the Central Issue for the country s future. Here too the Young want to look ahead and they Are dissatisfied at the Lack of prospects. These Are not the wry rebels of 19s8. Disdainful of excess consumerism demanding imagination Power dreaming in romantic passion of remaking the world to their taste. They an not dropout. They want to join the working society As soon As they have qualified themselves but they fear that it will not be capable of admitting them. They Don t feel they have Suffy Dent control of their Fate and they Are not resigned to thai situation. But 1968 did leave its traces in prevailing youth id attitudes opening and in a Way softening them. Equality at least of Opportunity is no longer consid ered an Ideal but a Basic inalienable right. Racism is no longer considered obsolete narrow mindedness but an unacceptable blight. Violence to most of them is indignity and part of us mounting anger is due to a suspicion that the hooligans who perpetrated it were unleashed by someone in officialdom who hoped ugly scenes on to Devon would provoke a widespread pro govern ment Public reaction like the one that followed the frenzy of May 1968. In proportion to the storm the French students formal demands seem minor. In comparison with the circumstances polish youth must endure mutely they seem downright trivial. Yet they Ait m important reminder that the Young will shape the future that they have Tome ideas of their own about in and that imy must be equipped to handle in soundly and fruitfully. The French Are managing to Bodge their government. The poles Are no 10 fortunate. There Are big Dib town what they have in common u iwo lion for the visible cynicism of Danist political life and a yearning for a nah of greater Justice. The storm Tad drum will pan but the world uhf Niayar title Jiw sir
