European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 8, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes tuesday. December a 1967 Anthony Lewis superpowers interests converge at Summit Cloft Nhut. Ujj a Summit inc Blini is More than cosmetic can Lake place Only when Civ superpower and its political Lender Hus n Strong interest in seeking a commod Milinn with the other. That is Why Ranuld Rea Gan and Mikhail Forh Richov Are meeting in washing Lon and Why each can confidently expert in gain something important. The significant achievement from the viewpoint of inc United stale1, is already Clear. That is soviet a cup Lance in the Drall treaty on Short and intermediate Range nuclear missiles of the principle that verification of arms agreements includes tin site inspection visits by officials of each Side to the other s territory. Acceptance of thai principle is a historic step. Only a few years ago it seemed unthinkable Hal the soviet Union would allow american scientists and military officers to inspect missile production and deployment Sites. The agreement could Point toward a wider casing of he morbid secrecy that the world finds such a men acing soviet characteristic. The missile i scaly has another aspect with hopeful implications for the United states. In signing it Gorbachev implicitly accepts the proposition that arms control agreements May be numerically asymmetrical requiring the soviet Union to give up larger numbers of weapons. Under he treaty the . Must destroy about 3,000 nuclear missile warheads and the United Stales fewer than 1,000. If such asymmetry can be accepted in order to achieve larger purposes in arms control it May be realistic to think of agreement on reducing conventional weapons in Europe where Large soviet forces especially tanks worry nato and would have to be sharply reduced to make an agreement possible. From the soviet viewpoint the military gain to be expected from the Summit meeting is the removal from Europe of american nuclear weapons that can hit All the major cities of inc Western . The per Shing 2 s have always been described by soviet officials As especially menacing. Bui the real significance of the Summit meeting for Gorbachev is surely political rather than military. It lies in inc commitment of the most conservative american president in memory one who has aimed much harsh rhetoric at the soviet Union to the Prin Ciple of arms agreements Between the superpowers and to generally belter relations Between Ihm. Reagan dramatized this Point himself in the run up to the Summit meeting by denouncing Hii own supporters on the extreme right who oppose the inf agreement. In their deepest thoughts he said they believe that War is inevitable Between the two George will better get . Begot incoming treaties alloyed the screen the leaders of the far right responded by forming what they called the anti appeasement Alliance. How Ard Phillips of inc conservative caucus said unfortunately Ronald Reagan is a very weak Man with a very Strong wife and a Strong staff. He has become a useful Idiol for Kremlin the break Between the president and those on the right who did so much to put him in office powerfully illustrates a Basic truth about inc american political system. Ii cannot be run successfully from he extremes. A president who wants to leave an admired record of accomplishment Wil move toward the Cen Ter even a president As ideological As Ronald Reagan. The personal interest Hal impels Reagan to this Summit meeting is obvious he is approaching the end of his presidency declining in Power and Public re Gard with no great achievement in foreign policy Over seven years. In inc inf agreement and in the possibility of future agric Mcnol on a drastic Cut in strategic weapons lies his Hope of a Page in history. Gorbachev has just As much of a political imperative. His leadership faces restless doubts in the party and the bureaucracy. He needs a Success in Washington. Of course the interests that led to the Summit arc More than personal. Opinion polls in the United states show overwhelming support for the inf treaty among conservatives and liberals. Republicans and democrats. In both superpowers the conviction is evidently growing that there Are too Many nuclear weapons and that military expenditure miss be contained. For both men and both countries this meeting can be a real Success Only if it starts a process. Will Gorbachev act in get in vice troops out of Afghanistan will he commit himself to lasting improvements in soviet attitudes to human rights will Reagan abandon his attempt to re interpret the treaty out of meaningful existence environmental politics strike Calif watershed at inc end of her tenure As mayor of the fermenting Metropolis of san fran Cisco Dianne Feinstein probably thought she had seen All the stimulation life could hurl her Way. Then the Tele phone on her desk rang and from across the continent in Washington the Secre tary of Interior said he had a neat idea for turning off the City s water and electricity. Well not really. Without prejudging his idea which he stresses is Only an idea not a proposal this should be said Secretary Donald Hodel is having second term fun. His idea for dismantling a dam and draining Hetch a itchy Reservoir is inc sort of thing that can Only be thought in a president s second term when fatigue has everyone feeling a bit Flaky and they Don t mind raising some dust. The Holch Helchy water covers what once was a dazzling Valley especially loved by John Muir founder of the san Francisco based Sierra club the Valley would be the worse for Wear after six decades under water but Hodel rightly thinks it would be fascinating to watch nature re store it As the slopes of mount Saint Helens Are being restored. Feinstein tartly Calls Model s the worst idea since the Sale of weapons to Hodyl s Cabinet colleague Secretary of Energy John Harrington clearly thinks the idea is crackers be cause it would Cost billions perhaps s6 billion to find alternative water supplies and new sources of electricity the Sale of which is important to san Francisco the Auburn dam to the North would have to be completed. But it has been stalled for 12 years because of worries about its ability to withstand Earth quakes and because of the opposition of environmentalists who also hate the dam at Hetch tetchy. Completing a Burn might Cost $1 billion dismantling whip there is of it might Cost half that. The dam at Heth a itchy is Cru Cial to a marvelous engineering achievement which with i5i Miles of tunnels and pipelines delivers water to the nation s fourth largest metropol Itan Region. Heich a itchy water is renowned for its purity everyone says it tastes great and is less tilling and is says Feinstein a san franciscan s Hodel is is the environmentalists 3 . Nightmare a conservative with political and personal skills James wan lacked. But with his Hetch Helchy idea be has flanked environmentalists on the left. Such is the suspicion not to say Par Anoia of some environmentalists there Are dark rumours about Hodel wanting to Drill for Oil on the Valley floor. More reasonably some people see his idea As an irresistible to a conservative Way Odis compiling a City thai is soggy with Politi Cal and cultural liberalism. You want environmentalism belter buy some candles and bottled water. Actually Hodel comes on As James Herriot Friend of chipmunks and All other creatures great and Small including the Ameri Eanus Touri Slus. A Herd travelling camera Slung biped thai flocks to Yos mile Valley in inconvenient numbers causing the Valley to be As congested As a shopping mall. Hodel rightly says thai adding a Mil lion acres to Yosemite would not diminish congestion in the Valley because everyone wants to Sec Al Capitan and the other famous splendours. Solution add a Valley. Feinstein argues that adding a Valley with a floor a mile and a Quarter Long will not appreciably alleviate con Guition in the More famous Vallec. And anyway it if did it would make Holch tetchy Valley into something that Muir would not have Wum cd Hodel has started n splendid raw not least among environmentalists. However Congress must be inc dam Buster and even were it to approve the project would Lake 10 years by which Lime the big one the Antic Ipa cd earthquake that is May have rearranged san Francisco. So there is no immediate need to panic at teas about Helch a itchy. Feinstein is almost certainly right on the merits but merits arc t everything and Hodyl s idea has a Lovely disproportion expressing an almost heroic indifference to Mere Pra Licali by. The idea Hal the country in its cur rent focal condition should spend 16 billion to dismantle an engineering Marvel in order to dry Oul a pretty Litile Valley is coming from a conservative piquant. However in recent decades Many environmentalists have spread for themselves a big Blanket on the moral High ground and had a picnic Sug Gesting Hal anyone who talks in terms of Trade offs Urban needs is. Conser vation tourist desires is. Preservation is insensitive. Hodel has at a stroke rained on the picnic. Driving a lol of people indoors Lolah about Trade offs
