European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 22, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes Jim Fain . Must face reality after 8 years of fantasy not since Merlin conjured far King Arthur has illusion so blotted out reality As these last eight years in the .ofo?. Pop psychologist say children of Alco Holics icam to defend themselves with denial. Maybe so. Fantasy clearly served Ronald Reagan As a Linus Blanket through a half Century As actor pitch Man and politician. His rejection of reality is All encompassing but most striking in his policy obsessions Star wars contras. Hos tages and deficit. In a hit or Luck Only the deficit inflicted Hilling damage. Reagan s child like Faith hat Star wars offered an impenetrable shield Ren dered him Putty in the hands of hard liners who saw it a an effective i crush singly expensive Way to defend icbms. In will shrivel under George Bush s budget problem. The Reagan fantasy of contras As a blend of George Washington and Nathan Haic guarding Mcallen. Texas made him hostage to Bill Casey Elliott Abrams it Al. Had Ortega been even close to the menace Reagan portrayed we should have declared War. In this fixation the old master Fantasir served right wingers by staving off diplomacy and producing open warfare with Congress. He harmed . Interests but Noi irreparably. Hostages were a More fateful mat Ter. Reagan s Clumsy efforts to Ransom them damaged our image As a credible Resolute Power. He had been elected pro claiming he would never Deal but melted the moment he was introduced to families of prisoners his response to his flip Flop total denial. He was not paying Ransom he insisted even when the Etc tailed haggling leaked out As to How Many Tow and Hawk missile pans per prisoner we thought we had negotiated. The president admitted once in a grudging staff induced moment of Lucid Ity that he indeed had paid Ransom. Then he quickly put his fantasy Blanket Back Over his head. During All this policy fantasizing he played his King role superbly on the to Flora Lewis stage his Hacks had earned to dominate. He thrilled Washington s conniving so Cial Hacks by restoring Tilz 10 state Din ners posed grandly for photographers on the Normandy beaches greeted tall ships at the statue of Liberty and charmed us All with Cue cards and stage Grace. His velvet escapism Malch cd the National mood precisely. We d had it up to Here with reality. After Vietnam watergate and four failed presidencies who wanted real when Gorbachev look Over in Russia and began to appreciate Iti bankruptcy we even got a sabbatical 1 rom nuclear jitters. Suddenly peace was break ing out and the fair collectors Siil had t come for the furniture. Eat drink be merry. Maybe they d misplace the address. George Bush is less Unicorn than his daddy and More nag of a different Hue. Earnest Over achiever of limited depth and unlimited eagerness to please he s the Ideal Mailer d for your country club bul not the Man to balance its books. This ultimately agreeable nerd is what we re about to Wake up with when in really is morning in America ugly reality raps on the door and All those cuddly dreams come crashing Down. In where s the rest of me Reagan stole of George Gipp whose myth be wears like a face mask. It s hard to Tell where legend ends and reality  sure is if but that s just where poor George and the rest of us will be while you Canler off into the  new service 73 Oil crisis in t through wreaking economies Paris even the winners have lost. Fifteen years after the explosion of Oil prices in 197 a the Price of Petroleum in real terms is nol b lot higher. But the damage wreaked is far from Over. Several countries which thought they had by divine indulgence become Rich forever arc still suffering from inc Binge. Others arc falling Ever More hopelessly into debt. Piecemeal efforts have been made to Patch the sys tem enough to keep goods and services flowing but there is still no Overall scheme for a reasonably expanding balance to meet inc world s needs. Bumbling through has been possible because those responsible did learn something from the depression about the wages of economic  lesson remaining to be Learned is that abrupt upheaval with attempts to establish a new world eco nomic order winds up hurting All. There is no longer any substitute for deliberate cooperation among the world s nations in economic As Well As in Security political and environmental affairs. Helmut Schmidt the former wot German Chan cellar startled african officials meeting in Nigeria recently when he said never again could they expect the torrents of capital that poured out of the Industrial world in the 1970s. They were created by the sudden shift in terms of Trade flooding Oil producers with Money turned Over to Western Banks for investment. Wasted or to a lesser extent used for their own Devil. Of mint. That in turn produced the vast third world debt crisis which also afflicts some Oil producers now Mexico and Nigeria among them. Top nigerian eco nomic officials say ruefully thai after All their country would have been better off if they had never struck in so Rich on Oil. -. It is like the Man who  a lottery and builds a Castle said one. He can t maintain in and then has to borrow or move  expectations destroy Pru Dence too easy Money promotes profligacy and corruption and there is no Chance to win again. What remains is structural readjustment the most ominous phrase in the third. World now. It is International monetary fund jargon for the imposed austerity that is undermining the fabric of third world societies As Alliey try to recover and reorganize production. Brazil s fragile democracy is an example of the Strain that May be turning into too much to Bear. The collapse of commodity prices As a consequence of the Industrial world s painful efforts to Deal with inflation and then recession after the Oil crisis will probably never be turned around Trade patterns were changed,.new materials have been developed. The third  has Cut dependence on the traditional raw materials hat provided livelihood and Hopes for development in the non Industrial world " -. The Lucky ones have been the newly industrialized countries which were Able to make the Best of cheap labor determined management with no illusions of either massive Aid or sudden unearned wealth while markets were wide open and consumer appetites inflated. Those coming later Aren t Likely to find the same advantageous conditions the . Imagines in has Gol Over the Hump but it is living on borrowed Money. Western Europe knows it has not yet succeeded. Its biggest problem remains unemployment a chronic average of about 10 percent which masks much higher figures in. Some countries notably Spain decline of some industries was inevitable but the rate that made it so hard to absorb was aggravated by inc Oil  country most devastated was he one most eager to raise and raise and raise the Golden Stream Iran. Oiher factors Mari ruled Bui it was above All the frenzy brought by so much Oil Money Hal provoked the iranian revolution. That cd to the Iran Iraq War and the ruination of both countries. Partly because of the distortions in both Rich and poor countries partly As Well because inc idea was never acceptable to most people the proposal of Zero growth As a Way to make the world cleaner and happier was soon dumped the club of Rome had some Points but nol the right ones. / ,. Now the Effort has to be fur a new balance but one More accommodating to the diversity of needs. New frictions arc accumulating Between knowledge that neglect of inc environment is by no Means benign and urgent yearning for continuation of the growth stimulated by petrodollars and then stunted /.-. Energy is a key Factor. Extensive studies arc needed on economic costs that must be included in Devi. Up mint plans to assure Environ menial Protection. As the world moves on into a surprising new period the nol Ion of Security must include economic relations