European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 01, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns Andrew Glass according to Pentagon cold War is Over the cold War is Over. It s official folks be cause he Pentagon says so. The defense department s latest 159-Page threat assessment carries the  beat subtitle of prospects for change in the soviet Union. That s not the Only sign of peace. A Slick mail order Catalon thai arrived the other Day features a genuine russian military watch. It s presumably the perfect Yule tide gift for one time cold warriors. And How about those muscovites camped out in the Chicago suburbs at Mcdonald s hamburger u.? Mcdonald s is about to open its largest facility in the whole world a 900-scat gobble atrium just five blocks from the Kremlin Walls. The russians arc in Illinois learning How to make wondrous Crunchy French Fries from Ordinary soviet potatoes. Of court Mcdonald s had to hire yugoslav craftsmen to finish the Moscow Job when the locals failed to meet expectations. There s a saying in the soviet Union they pretend to pay  and we pretend to  Russia is awash in rubles. But there s practically nothing in the stores Worth buying. Of course some things that you might want like Vars Are readily available for dollars. It s the dollars that arc hard to come by. Cold War or no that in t a particularly healthy situation. Then there s what the politicians Call the nationalities  during a More frigid season Josef Stalin had a nationalities problem too. His solution was to liquidate or forcibly resettle tens of millions of crimean tartars kalmyk mask octian georgians. Jews and Volga Ger mans. These Days Quile a few Volga germans once welcomed by Catherine the great and centuries later transplanted to Siberia by Stalin arc leaving for West Germany. Of course the West germans pay the Krem Lin a hefty bribe for each one who departs. But it s not Nice to raise that sort of thing now that the cold War is Over. In 1940, under the Molotov ribbon drop pact soviet troops rolled into the three Baltic republics of Lithuania. Latvia and Estonia. Later on the republics were annexed within the soviet Union raising the number of constituent republics from 12 to 15. As it happens i was living in Lithuania As a refugee when the russians came. My father put sausages on the table for a Good Many months by Selling watches to the new arrivals. Among red army soldiers the Fash Ion of the Day was to Wear six watches at once three on each  . Rosenthal hands across the Baltic Many years later 1 worked on Capitol Hill As a press agent to a midwestern Republican senator with a Siz Able Baltic constituency. A High Point of our legislative season was captive nations  such occasions obligated me to ghost write a series of ringing declarations looking Forward to the splendid Day when these oppressed Peoples could once More live in Freedom. In time those congressional record reprints came to line some of the better cat boxes in the ethnic neighbourhoods of Chicago. To this Day cold War or no accredited representatives of Lithuania Latvia and Estonia appear in the state department s official diplomatic list. Nestled comfortably Between envoys from such real countries is Liberia and Luxembourg. The current s. Ambassador to the soviet Union. Jack mattock Speaks russian and likes to get around. But he won t set foot in any Baltic soviet socialist Republic lest his presence signify american assent to Moscow s Domin Ion. The irony of course is now that baits sense a real Chance to break free from russian Rule s. Officials quietly urge caution and restraint lest the whole soviet Union be consumed by bloody nationalist uprisings. If thai happens the Pentagon no doubt will oblige  with a n updated threat  c c � news service Solidarity needs Luck help to change Poland the prime minister of Poland is strolling about his office looking. It is All new to him. He had been in other official polish establishments like jail but until Solidarity chose him to head the new government Tadeusz Mazowiecki had never set foot in the Large building in Central Warsaw that houses All the government ministries that arc now supposed to report to him. So after a Day or two he is walking around inspecting the furnishings. He sees a Button he had not noticed and gives it a Little push. The Wall suddenly parts. Out leaps a Soldier with an automatic Rifle. When they both recover from the Shock Mazo Piccki is told a Soldier is always behind the Wall to protect him. The prime minister Calls the head of police a communist minister and says he would appreciate knowing about other soldiers and other breakaway Walls. That Story was told to me in new York by a visiting Solidarity official to make a couple of important Points. One was that although Solidarity holds the prime ministry and other important posts it still docs not know where the government buttons Are or who will leap out of the Wall when they Are pushed. The second Point is that almost the entire government bureaucracy is still in the hands of tens of thousands of communist apparatchiks. And of course some of the most important ministries like the police arc headed by communists under the agreement setting  the new govern ment. Assuming every single one has not been converted to democracy the possibilities for sabotage or slowdown Are immense. These Points arc important for Ameri cans who tend already to take Solidarity and its hold on Power for granted a political and psychological mistake. The Bush administration apparently will be More open handed than it first intended. But in the United states it has not yet come across that if Solidarity is to thrive even survive it will not Only have to meet the Savage economic crisis it inherited from the communists but at the same time create an entirely new sys tem of government. Meanwhile Solidarity has to keep a close Eye on a Man who is supposed to be its Friend. Cardinal Jozef a lamp dealt the new government a hard blow by making a carefully crafted anti semitic statement in effect proclaiming jews to be enemies of Poland and its Freedom. Happily it took Solidarity Only a Day to repudiate that statement and Only a couple More Days to organize a direct Appeal to the Pope who then distanced himself from the Cardinal. The Solidarity government is also talking about recognizing Israel ending four decades of pol ish communist enmity. But Glemp probably will be heard from again to add to Solidarity s Trou Bles. Men of hatred arc rarely silent for Long. One important american docs under stand the full Range of Solidarity s prob lems and needs Lane Kirkland head of the Al Cio which has befriended Solidarity before during and after the time it was outlawed publicly and privately Kirkland is giving members of Congress some suggestions specifically tailored to help Poland move from the failed communist system to a free Economy. Among Many one Kirkland Sugges Tion is a fund of $230 million a year 10 provide Small Grants to Start businesses m Light Industry and services where the communists left a desert. He also suggests an annual $100 Mil lion Job re training fund for those poles who will be thrown out of work when inefficient corruptly run government plants arc closed Down while it is struggling to keep alive economically the new government will be dealing with something Kirkland Points out has not happened since the creation of Israel transforming a labor movement into a government separating one from the other and allowing for democratic challenges to both. Kirkland agrees with american Finan Cial experts who say Poland will have to wipe out Many subsidies and artificially Low prices. That is Likely to bring a period of hyperinflation and unemployment. But he warns that the Solidarity government must not be left to Deal alone with this heritage of communism. With Luck president Bush will listen to that Point. America and Western Europe must extend help before and during the new government s period of economic trial not wait until it is Over and then look to see if Solidarity has managed to survive or whether somebody else has jumped out of the Wall. In Wowk tiny the opinions expressed in the column Sand cartoons on this Page represent those of he authors and Are in no nay to reconsidered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the unite states government