European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 08, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns Flora Lewis Assumption of East West Equality breaking Down the cold War bred an Assumption thai the two sides of the East West equation should be considered equals. That has been the basis or arms control negotiations up to now but the Assumption is breaking Down. As the transformation of Eastern Europe develops the old idea of overcoming the division of Europe by dissolving the two major alliances has to be Dis carded. Each will still have certain functions but they will be different from the present and from each other. Negotiators in Vienna Are working doggedly to Cut conventional forces in Europe what a soviet analyst recently called these monstrous War machines to parity at a lower level. That be came possible with Moscow s major con cession of accepting asymmetrical re  As the jargon puts it because it has More troops and weaponry than does the West. But a new reverse asymmetry will emerge from changes in the East the Warsaw pact will be hard pressed to sus Tain the Force level the West wants As a ceiling. Already the interim and still communist government in Hungary has Sig naked that it wants soviet troops to with draw. And Czechoslovakia s new foreign minister has pointed out that there is no valid basis for the 70,000 to 75,000 soviet troops stationed in his country since Moscow has admitted that the 1968 in Vasion was  Poland s new government appreciates soviet sensitivity about forces on its territory assuring links to the 400,000 Strong soviet Garrison in East Germany. But Warsaw also wants cuts and treat revisions. Yet Mikhail Gorbachev told president Bush in Malta that american forces should stay in Europe which Means pre serving nato. As Secretary of state James a. Baker 111 said the Alliance is the Central link Between the United states and Western Europe and will remain vital to both. The two alliances will be needed if Only to oversee coming arms  that the probability of German reunification is a powerful motive for europeans on both sides of the Divide to James Kilpatrick keep the balancing weight that America provides. The idea of a Neutral Germany at the Center of Europe is As obsolete As the Berlin Wall. The country is much too powerful economically and increasingly politically to be credible As a giant aus Tria or Switz Crand. It needs to be anchored in institutions both the euro Pean Community and nato As Baker said if it is not to become a dreaded Loose Cannon on the deck. This is not just a matter of Trust Butof european dynamics. Embers of fear of Germany still smolder. That fear showed in the irrational reaction to Chancellor Helmut Kohl s december speech Outlin ing conditions and Steps toward some kind of German Unity. Kohl was rightly criticized for going off on his own failing to consult his coalition partners and allies in his haste to seek Domestic political gain. And he was rightly criticized for refusing to include assurances on Poland s Western Border. But his speech was useful. It offered to germans on both sides the Hope of an orderly democratic approach to the Unity Issue. That does t hurry the pro Cess. It s probably the Only Way to slow it Down by pre Empting crowds in the Street chanting slogans of German nationalism. Whether it includes East Germany or not the Warsaw pact May also be needed to maintain peace in Eastern Europe until its inhabitants reach the kind of reconciliation achieved in the West. At present the surge to democracy is re leasing suppressed nationalism that could turn dangerous. But its function As the basis for a soviet bloc set against the West will disappear. This will seem at first an unacceptable imbalance to Moscow alongside a politically strengthened nato. Soviet analysts should Ponder carefully Baker s Milestone Berlin speech saying a legitimate and stable european order will help it will not threaten legitimate soviet  America s contribution to that order remains essential in what nato Secretary general Manfred Warner called the Long period of transition that we arc now entering As the East european countries make the painful switch to Market economies they will loosen their ties to the soviets. But they can also work As a Vanguard to Case even More difficult soviet integration into the world Economy Raisin standards expanding Trade. It is hard to conceive yet of the kind of . Reconciliation that would enable Moscow to see a disintegrating War saw pact and a sturdy if transformed nato As favourable . But mentalities arc changing. Already Moscow has said it is not threatened by attack from the West. The changes have been one sided because one Side needed much More change. That will be True throughout the coming decade. 1c new York Lima grave injustice had roots in Justice department two Federal judges now have found something Rotten at the Justice department. They have found the ugly Case of i Slaw inc., and that Case is beginning to smell to High heaven. The question is what does attorney general Dick Thornburgh propose to do about it Over the past five years a Good Deal has been written about the i Slaw affair in Legal and business publications but not much has appeared in the daily press. Now two recent developments command attention on nov. 22, senior . District judge William Bryant handed Down a startling opinion in Washington and on dec. 20, tiled a petition for a writ of mandamus against Thornburgh. The petition seeks an Independent investigation of his department s conduct. The Story is not complicated and it is not pretty. It has to do with a Young inventor William Hamilton who set out in 1973 to develop a computer software system that would increase the efficiency of Federal prosecutors. He came up with promis prosecutor s management information system. It worked Well. Building on his original invention Hamilton then greatly enhanced the software program. In 1982 he sought and won a three year contract with the depart ment of Justice to install the improved promis in 20 of the largest . Attorney s offices. He fulfilled the con tract in february 1985. Simultaneously he went into chapter 11 bankruptcy. What had gone wrong a great Deal had gone wrong. For a period of 18 months from november 1974 to april 1975, Hamilton had employed c. Madison Brewers his general counsel. It was a bad relationship. Personalities clashed. Hamilton thought Brewer was doing a poor Job Brewer thought Hamilton was  in the end Brewer was fired. The contract with Justice was virtually the sole source of in Laws income. And who wound up at the Justice department As Deputy attorney general assigned to Man age the promis project c. Madison Brewer. In 1986 Hamilton brought an adversary proceeding in the District of Columbia bankruptcy court alleging that Brewer had led a conspiracy to Dave him out of business. Bankruptcy judge George f. Bason or. Conducted pro longed hearings. On sept 28, 1987, he handed Down a stunning decision. The court upheld Hamilton s charges. Bason found that Brewer had worked with colleagues a Justice to achieve the ruination of i Slaw. Brewer and his associates the court found evidenced a Complete Lack of  they were utterly hostile to Hamilton. They sidetracked or ignored Nis repeated complaints. Brewer was consumed by hatred and by an intense desire for revenge against Hamilton. Subsequent to the chapter ii filing the department acting through its employees unlawfully intentionally and wilfully sought to cause the conver Sion of the petition to a chapter 7 liquidation without justification and by improper Means. Bason s opinion was sweeping. The evidence was Clear and convincing in some instances the evidence was Over whelming or even  part of Brewer s testimony was a deliberate  other testimony for the department was totally unbelievable or absolutely in  he entered a judgment against the department of $6.8 million plus nearly $ 1 million dollars in attorneys fees. The department appealed. Three months after he dropped his blockbuster on dec. 28, 1987, Bason was denied reappointment As a bankruptcy judge. In the summer of 1988, sen. Sam Nunn d-ga., tried to investigate the i Slaw affair. He ran into a Stone Wall Nunn told a Justice spokesman that you have had us jumping through one hoop after another. The spokesman. Assistant attorney general John r. Bolton scoffed at a son s opinion. He was certain it would be reversed. Bason himself was biased we arc confident that we will be  famous last words. On nov. 22, senior judge Bry ant came to the same conclusion judge Bason had reached the government acted wilfully and fraudulently to obtain property that it was not entitled  further there is convincing perhaps compelling support for the findings set Forth by the bankruptcy  these find Ings will not be  what now Dick Thornburgh is Hamilton still crazy or were your own people in the wrong c a Natrul Prau synd Ciu