European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 12, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Daily a Magazine Why does the . Refuse to pay its . Bill a compliment but no Cash he United Mattour top 10 debtor in flu conf Cutura to the Unta Snifen no total a Kinha cumulate  to my mini a a mini us state pc Seth Africa to Iran scr sctt Union Rumania 25.0% $465.9 0.4 1.4 0.6 11,8 0.6 0-8 0.2 0.6 0.2 33.9 17.9 12.1 12.1 6.3 6-2 4.7 4.3 4.0 by Richard Bernstein now York times he Senate made a significant but paradoxical gesture last month when in unanimously passed a nonbinding Resolution acknowledging thai the United nations has been making some important contributions la world peace. Since 1985, Iho Senate has refused to appropriate the full amount of the Standard  contribution to the world body on the ground that the organization is inefficient wast club and Olen contrary to american interests. But now it was praising the . For its recent efforts in mobilizing world opinion against the soviet occupation of Afghanistan for example and for helping with a solution to the Iran liar War. The Resolution sponsored a sen. Claiborne Pell. Or i., chairman of Iho foreign fixations committee concluded thai the . Benefits american concerns and thai the Unildo Stales should pay Allol f no dues it owes. As the Senate passed Pell s Resolution the in. Was fac locally begging the do led Stales to turn Over $44 million that Congress has appropriated Lor 1388 but is withholding pending Elloris in the world organization to Cul Back expenditures and carry out other changes. Secretary general Javier Perez de Cuellar has warned thai if Back contributions Are not paid up the United nations will run out of operating funds this fall. The United Stales is in arrears by $466.9 million fully two thirds of the total of unpaid assessments owed by All the 159 member countries. The standoff relied s a longstanding ambivalence on the pad of Bolh the american Public and the go Vermont toward the in which is alternatively viewed As a dangerous place in he words Olsen. Daniel Patrick Moythan a former chief american Delegate and As an Insl Lulic a that seems to boat least potentially valuable As a forum Lor world peace american suspicion of internationalism and certainly of subjecting the country s ire Domol action to group approval did nol begin with the United nations it had its most dramatic moment with Iho Senate s defeat of american membership in president Woodrow Wilson s cherished league of Nal Rons in 1919. The league was opposed by High Wing natives is and Lel Tisl populists alike who feared the membership in such an International forum could drag the United Stales into More foreign wars and subject it to manipulation when Henry Cabot Lodge the senator from Massachusetts called the league an evil thing with a holy flame he was anticipating by half a Century Iho persist on antagonism expressed in its More extreme forms by bumper slickers Reading get Resolution sponsored by sen. Cat biome Pell concluded the United states benefits from the . The . Out of the . And the . Out of the ." despite this undercurrent there is a common perception thai at i isl americans enthusiastically supported Iho United nations Bui some analysts dispute this notion. There is undoubtedly Fai less enthusiasm and far greater see Plicis today than in the late 1940s and 1950s, said Edward c. Luck the president of the United nations association a private group that has supported american participation in the organization. Out Luck adds it is hard to think of a period when  -. Relations were truly tranquil or to identify precisely when were the Good old Days in the  congressional efforts to scale Down the american contribution go Back to 1949, when in was decided to reduce the United states assessment from 40 percent of the United nations budget to 25 percent. Luck argues thai the cold War cast a Shadow Over the Public s belief that the United nations could be an monday september 12, 1988 of Lclive instrument of International cooperation. The Mccarthy period encouraged suspicions of communist infiltration. Things definitely turned sour in the 1970 s when a coalition of mostly african and Arab countries generally us paroled by the soviet bloc gained a majority and Rora the standpoint of Many americans turned the United nations into a body thai issued Little Moro than angry and sell righteous rhetoric the lowest Point was reached in 1975 when the Resolution equating zionism with racism pushed Many americans toward full scale disillusionment. The organization s human rights committee never sled the soviet Union or Vietnam or until recently Iran Lor violations. Countries that practice terrorism accused Israel and the United states of being terrorist slates. Anti semitic declarations were made Horn he platform of the general Assembly. When Moynihan who was the american chief Delegate Al Tho Limo of the zionism Resolution coined the phrase a dangerous place the danger he meant was to democratic and Liberal values and beliefs. While Many in the Unildo states were clearly alienated by the danger cited by Moynihan some polls indicated a pragmatic american scepticism about the effectiveness of the world body in promoting peace. Not Only in seemed had the United nations become an Arena Lor offensive rhetoric it made no contribution to improving american soviet relations or ending the arms Raco. The Reagan administration has been extremely unfriendly toward the United nations. Yet Here too inconsistencies have appeared. Mcmon a wallers the present american permanent Delegate in his last report on United nations voting patterns claimed that much of the anti american venom has recently disappeared while Voles important to the United states have had More Lavo Rable results. Walters like the Senate has acknowledged that in such areas As Afghanistan and the persian Gull the organization is playing a useful Rale. In testimony before Congress Walters said he favored restoring Tull american contributions to the organization. But the Reagan administration has until now refused to certify thai the United nations is making satisfactory Progress toward change a condition that must be met before the $44 million can be released. After the Pell Resolution was passed Mere was a move in the Senate to remove the certification requirement. But in was Dele aled Early in August in an appropriations subcommittee most of whose members had voted just the  before in favor of the pro United nations Resolution the stars and stripes Page 13