European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 30, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes sunday. August 30. 1987 Serge Schmemann Chancellor Kohl effects a kind of political coup Bonn Chancellor Helmut Kohl s unexpected announcement that he was prepared to scrap West Germany s old Pershing missiles once the superpowers got rid of their medium and Shorter Range systems was generally received Here thursday if sometimes grudgingly As something of a political coup. Kohl s announcement on wednesday seemed to Dis Arm his Domestic and foreign adversaries alike. The opposition social democrats had hoped to thrash Kohl and his coalition on the Issue in Advance of important regional elections and Western diplomats thought the russians would have trouble maintaining the propaganda Point that a Milestone arms pact was being hew up by the West germans. Most West German newspapers gave Kohl a tip of the Hal in their editorials on thursday and East Germany s main party mouthpiece Neues deutschland signalled us satisfaction by giving he Chancellor s announcement front Page display. The posting had threatened to cast a pall Over the historic visit to Bonn next month by Erich Honecker the East German Leader. A predictably angry blast was issued by Kohl i right Wing coalition partner the Christian so Cial Union in Bavaria which has been consistently overruled within the government on disarmament is sues. The bavarian party Leader Franz Josef Strauss vacationing in Bulgaria complained that he had not been consulted or even informed in Advance. There was no immediate indication whether Strauss intended a More serious Challenge to Kohl Over the Issue relations Between the coalition partners have been strained lately As Kohl has sensed growing Politi Cal pressure to shift leftward while Strauss has fell some heat from the bavarian fur right. On the left a spokesman for the opposition social democrats acknowledged that Kohl had marked cer Tain Progress but he said the socialists would go ahead with a parliament session scheduled for next week to clarify some Points. Predictably the cheesiest reaction was from foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher and his Small and Liberal free democratic party Kohl s coalition part Ner. Genscher who has been successful in steering the governing coalition his Way on virtually every major disarmament Issue declared himself highly pleased with the Chancellor s statement. Rvl Osl commentators and diplomats agreed Hal Kohl had basically demonstrated realism in agreeing 10 scrap the Pershing a since neither the superpowers nor the West German voters would react charitably to the impression thai a major arms pact had been blocked by West German intransigence Over some obsolescent missiles. Kohl teamed last april that disarmament Wii popular with voters when his image As a hard liner Cost him Cav William f. Buckley or. Of Impleman explain this in Morel ily in regional elections. The Christian democrats Are now facing a Strong Challenge from the social democrats in Szalc elections in Schleswig Holstein on Cpl 13. Thus it was not unexpected that the Chancellor would ultimately give in on the Pershing Las. What he got credit for however was his timing and the shape of his  a Long time last Spring Kohl resisted giving his endorsement to the search for a Broad am incan soviet Accord on medium Range missiles. The elimination of All soviet and american missiles Wilh ranges be tween 300 and 3,000 Miles West German conserva Tives had argued would sever a key Bond linking West German Ana american defences. Kohl s capitulation then would have been viewed As a humiliation. But he insisted at inc Lime that the 12 Pershing a missiles owned by West Germany whose nuclear warheads Are controlled by the United Stales would remain outside any Geneva agreement. The russians however probably spurred in part by the Prospect of stirring some trouble within West Ger Many and Between Bonn and Washington declared that the Pershing warheads were american weapons and had to be counted. The scene was set for a Nasty political dispute in West Germany and some tens brinkmanship in the Geneva  evidently concluded that his Best response was to act fast and decisively. The Pershing Las he insisted were still outside the Geneva talks. Bui he was prepared to act alone 10 scrap his missiles if the super Powers reached an agreement and stuck to its timetable. Kohl could thus say that they were not surren Dering the principle of owning Pershing but that it was Moscow not Bonn Hal would have to decide whether to torpedo the whole agreement Over the old rockets. The East germans who obviously had feared that Honecker would be required by Moscow to storm and rave about the Pershing while in Bonn took the unusual step of praising Kohl s statement even before Moscow had taken a position on it. The foreign ministry spokesman Wolfgang Meyer Lold Reuters that nothing More could stand in the Way of an agreement. A nun Vot Timai Dickson was right to Coll off Atlantic crossing Jim Dickson we learn has abandoned his undertaking id sail alone across the Atlantic Ocean in his 36-foot boat. There Are those who Are reassured by his decision for personal reasons they feared for his safety and of hrs who Are gratified because they saw no Point in the undertaking to begin Wilh. I belong in both Camps. Goodness what a stir 1 created when i wrote that Dickson s Energy courage and ambition were misdirected. The Washington Post published an irate letter from a deaf student at Cornell univer sity who misconstrued the Point i endeavoured to make As an argument against deaf students going to Cornell. Ted Koppel who invited both Dick son and me to a Semi gentle Franly shoot out on his program reproached me for not having made the Correct distinction a Point also made by columnist Charles Krauthammer. Thai distinction they both say is As easy As this although you Don t get the full experience if you sail As a Blind Man you do get an experience and who is to say thai getting an experience is Noi onh in to the person gelling it Krauthammer s lest is this and he uses it to describe a deaf Man who goes to a Ballet can he give you an account of what happened yes a partial account. Missing is the Rush of the music but certainly there is bin apprehension diminished but real of the  a Good try but not Worth a whole Cigar. When you attend a Ballet you go out to see a combination of music and dance. To see just the dancers and not hear the music is not to have attended Ballet Bui to have seen dancers so to speak a Capella. Krauthammer reclaims sight is. Of course a Large part of inc sailing experience. But Ilis not All of it. If it were then when Buckley sails into a pea soup fog in which he can no More see water and sky than can Dickson one would have to say thai Buckley is not sailing when in fact he  again a Good try. In my i talc essay i pointed out that All the senses specifically including sound and taste Are engaged in sailing Bui that sight is critical. Never More so than in a pea soup fog when the eyes Strain to see not merely dread noughts heading toward you but inc sails themselves the movement of disputations winds signalling the possibility of a weather change. Sight is important enough not to be Belil led. Another correspondent assaults me by electronic mail no less to advise me that he knows of a 15-year-old girl who disguised her blindness from the judges at a horse show and performed perfectly in a jumping contest. Now i spent a great gob of my youth in jumping contests on horseback and i flatly Dis count any possibility that a Blind Eques Trian can guide a horse around a ring Over clusters of jumps and other hurdles without the kind of tactile coordination Between hands and horse Withers that unify the mount and its rider. This is nol quite the same thing As saying that a rider cannot succeed in Tak ing 10 jumps in succession without being dismounted but to do so would require a Static posture a docile hone and judges who would no More be fooled by what was going on than a listener would be if suddenly the people playing woodwinds started playing the strings and vice versa. It is a pity thai inc pity we rightly fed for inc handicapped evolves into forced applause when the handicapped attempt that which simply is not natural. Kraut Hammer replies that it is nol natural to swim the English Channel yet people do this but he is talking about adventure of an entirely different kind. He is talking Aboul maximum exertion. To have been the first to swim the Channel after months perhaps years of physical and psychological training is a fear quite Beautiful to contemplate. It is like Reading the Book or hearing the sym phony of a gifted artist who is totally devoted to his Craft. But to learn that a Blind Man has sailed across the Atlantic is on the order of being asked to appreciate a Book on the grounds that after All it was written by a Semi Lerate. The definitive com ment was of course Johnson a when he said that inc wonder of it was nol that the dog walking on his Hind legs should do so imperfectly but Hal he should do so at All. Captain Dickson is a Brave Man but his venture s on behalf of inc Blind Are Shortsie Hlad. A a Mew Al Cian syndic Ila