European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 22, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes Martin Gottlieb Mikhail Gorbachev keeps surprising the world a question about Gorbachev if As All sophisticated observers Are required to believe Gorbachev s policies arc caused by his nation s problem in the 1980s, How come nobody seeing those problems predicted Gorbachev William satire summarizes the sophisticated View Mikhail Gorbachev understands this Rule of political survival make what you must do appear to be what you want to satire says per Stroika in t working for the soviet Economy so with no Choice but to Cut military spending president Gorba Chev turned that sour Jemon of declining Power into the most delicious lemonade. He came to the . so can satire Tell us what Gorbachev will do next if Gorbachev does what he must then his actions must be predictable. The truth is that Gorbachev keeps surprising the world. A few weeks ago the sophisticated position was Well sure this Gorbachev stuff is Nice but after All he still has t done a thing about the soviet military s size and offensive orientation. Another question if Gorbachev is just playing out the hand his country has been dealt Why Are the sophisticates including Safirt worried that some anti Gorbachev i waiting to come along and undo the whole thing was the Gorbachev restructuring in the cards or was t it and if it s so perfectly obvious that Gorbachev must reduce his defense spending must pull in from his International commit ments must encourage a less rigid Economy then Why just a couple of years ago were the sophisticates saying that the Battle against an expansionist militaristic totalitarian soviet Union was a Battle that would continue As far As the Eye could Sec into the future pulitzer prize pundit Charles Kraut Hammer by Way of explanation Points to alleged soviet gains in the late 1970s Cam Bodia Nicaragua Afghanistan and Grenada he seems to think having them is Good and american losses Vietnam Iran Oil in dependence stagflation. And he Points to the american resurgence in the 1980s. Any thought the soviets might have had he says of unilaterally out William f. Buckley flanking the West either economically or geopolitical by has evaporated. Gorba Chev is the soviet Way of coming to terms with that too easy. If the soviets were now Belliger ent would t a Krauthammer Sec the Rea sons As perfectly obvious the americans have demonstrated their inability to sustain a military buildup and to sustain a Tough foreign policy in Nicaragua. They arc beset by debt and Are being outstripped economically by a non communist nation Japan that does t want a Strong military. They Are turning away from the Early Hawkis Ness of Ronald Reagan to the traditional Modera Tion of George Bush while the liberals Are resurgent in Congress. Obvious. Arguments about the present and the future arc always arguments about the past first. The satires and Krauthamm mers first of All want it understood that they were right All along that Tough for eign policy is what works. Fine. Everybody plays the i was right ail along game. But the sophisticates can be too sophisticated for their own Good. The Gorbachev phenomenon is the most exciting Surpris ing important development in world affairs in decades. Never in the lives of most people now alive have the chances for a stable peace seemed so Strong. All along the Best Chance for an end to the nuclear deadlock has been not some technological gimmick but a genuine change in the Way the superpowers relate to each other. Yes that s a Liberal play ing the game Britain and France both have nuclear arsenals but neither Wor Ries much about the others because of the nature of their relationship. Now finally to the amazement of Many sophisticated people if Only they will admit it the frightening standoff that often seemed permanent May be beginning to end. And the sophisticates worry first not exclusively but first about the shrug their shoulders with feigned nonchalance and say but of course. It was inevitable. Let me they risk missing a Good time that will Only come once. C n work tiny if u.s., Israel want to bargain now is the time after Yasser Arafat had spoken the interpreters started in. Officially the word from the Israel . Axis was nothing doing. Nothing has changed. Vive la Guerre. Others were not quite so sure. John Chancellor in a few minutes on Abc outlined the three conditions that had been set up by the state department the Palestine liberation organization must renounce terrorism accept . Resolutions 242 and 338, and acknowledge Israel s right to exist. Chancellor proceeded to quote three passages from the speech each one of which however an fractious the wording seemed to say it pretty Plain up front we renounce violence in All its forms we agree to abide by the . Resolutions and we agree that All the states in the disputed areas should be Sovereign and secure. Chancellor asked we Are entitled to wonder whether Secretary Shutlz will continue to refuse to take yes for an then there were the in Between people who said that Arafat had qualified his abnegation of violence by congratulating those third world states that had won their free Dom from imperialism and suggesting that this could not have been accomplished save by violence. On the . Resolutions there seemed to be no equivocation except that the resolutions Are differently read by different readers some of them implying that they Call for a Retreat by Israel to the 1949 boundaries which is a Little like Mexico s asking the United states kindly to Retreat to the 13-Colony Borders. And on the third Point Arafat used a lot of accommodating words but he did not use the term Israel s right to this did not Surprise a lot of people but did Surprise the delegation of american jews who travelled to Stock Holm to visit with Arafat the week before. There As Rita Hauser testified five times Arafat said he was willing to concede Israel s right to exist. But when the time came to say those words publicly in front of the world s Assembly they would not shape up in his Mouth. Now one hardly need make a commitment to the new found sincerity of Arafat to acknowledge that he faces certain difficulties. They Are in part political but in part dogmatic. Consider now the obvious analogue. Mikhail Gorba Chev is the new hero of the West. We cannot get enough of he has in the opinion of most of the West ended the cold War. We arc dealing with a soviet Union entirely different from the soviet Empire that was once dubbed evil by Pope Ron i before Squishy softness Sci in. Now on nov. 2, 1987, the soviet Union celebrated the 70th anniversary of the same revolution acclaimed by Mikhail Gorbachev in his speech before the United nations last week. And he said in october 1917, we parted with the old world rejecting it once and for All. We arc moving toward a new world the world of communism. We shall never turn off that note that our Gorby was not speaking about communism merely for the soviet Union. The new world he spoke of includes pcs Monics Iowa. It is tolerable to Hope that in fact Gorbachev has Given up on the soviet Union s search for a new world even if it is intolerable to adjust our defense policy on such an Assumption. But it is strange that no one makes the Point that for Arafat to pronounce the words exactly As we have articulated them Israel has a a i go to to cd is to is on the order of asking Gorbachev to say in As Many words Lenin was a false you could not gel him to say that even if he thought it. And if Arafat were to say it one reasonably concludes he would alienate supporters he needs to have if indeed there is a possibility that he wishes to move toward an accommodation. There must after All be so be reason for All the recent commotion from the Palestine National Council the recent commotion from the soviet Union the Semi withdrawal from Afghanistan and Namibia glasnost and perestroika were acts not so much of intellectual and moral maturity As of necessity marxism does t work and after a while the people want to be fed. But Arafat was under no particular pressure that distinguishes the Plo this year from the Plo last year. The uprisings in the West Bank have weakened Israel More than they have weakened the palestinians even so Arafat wants to move. But. He cannot utter those six words for reasons certainly political probably also dog Matic and not inconceivably also superstitious. If the United states and Israel want to get on with some hand to hand bargaining this is the time. C Unkyul Pron set with
