European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 13, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes Arnold Sawislak Bush must set new . Foreign policy course As world War ii began winding Down 45 years ago. A new View of world affairs was taking shape in the United Stales. That set of fixed stars guided . Foreign policy from the mid-1940s to the late 1980s, but the time is fast approach ing Tor a new look at an incredibly altered world situation. The foreign policy of the United states before world War ii was isolationist although Franklin d. Roosevelt was inching the nation toward an inter nationalist View. The War completed Hal Job. The nation was committed to taking a Strong role in world affairs after the Avis was Defeated. Josef Stalin s Effort to bring Post War Europe under soviet domination defined what the role of the United states would be. It look different names at different times containment deterrence Over the years but the purpose of it was to Slop the russians from swallowing everything on their Borders and beyond. The United states escaped the War s physical devastation and emerged As the strongest of he victors. It undertook alone to bolster the weakened nations of Western Europe and to counter soviet and later. Chinese communist military strength. . Policy As expressed in the mar shall plan and the Truman doctrine worked in Europe. The Iron curtain never reached West of Central Europe although there were some epic political struggles for control in countries such As France and Italy. The  was far less effective in Asia where it involved the United slates in two Nasty Little wars. Korea was a standoff and Vietnam was a defeat reducing Public support for . Foreign intervention 10 a Post world War ii Low. From the mid-1970s on. The anti communist foreign policy Hal evolved when the War ended was under attack in the United states. Paradoxically it was William f. Buckley the political heirs of for the Liberal democrats who led the assault on the idea that the United slates should be the world s  the opposition in the United slates was growing publicly and it appeared that the soviet Union was stolidly stay ing the course Stalin set for it in the 1940s. But the Effort to keep the Iron cur Tain not to speak of the Berlin Wall intact was causing internal strains. Afghanistan turned out to be the soviet Union s Vietnam. When Mikhail Gorba Chev took Over the soviet leadership he set a course that led to the incredible eruption of Freedom from the Baltic tothe Balkans during 1989. Now it appears the phenomenon is not going to Stop at the soviet Borders. In its first year the Bush administration has shown Little eagerness to plunge into any area of potential controversy. But ready or not it will fall to president Bush to set a new foreign policy course for the United slates in his first term. This does not have to be done by tomorrow afternoon. But it is something that someone at the White House or the state department ought to be working on now. Like it or not a lot of history s verdict on this presidency is going to hinge on How this president deals with the new world now taking shape. United press International the puzzling world of Gorbachev communism the progressively popular new line about events in the soviet Union is that there in t anything we can do one Way or another to accelerate or decelerate what s happening. That is substantially True but by no Means conclusively so. We could for instance stir up a dangerous great russian nationalist xenophobia b making the wrong moves or even by saying the w Rong things. But let that pass for the moment. What catches the attention is a creeping historical egalitarianism. Some observers have become so enthusiastic about what or. Gorbachev is doing that they lend to blame us for its not having happened earlier. That is enough to boil the blood and my own is Eulic tic on Hal subject. Maureen Dowd of the new York times she is one of inc Ablest and funniest reporters in Christendom if Vou will Pardon inc expression writes about watch ing history from Washington Awe As soviet party yields  and pretty soon she gets to Peggy Noo Nan. Identified As the  or Ronald Reagan who Uroic Many of the former president s most Biling evil Empire  we May says is. Noonan have exhausted our capacity for Surprise and Delight when we watched children in Tiana men Square quoting Jefferson and children in East Germany taking pick axes to the Berlin Wall As East German guards smiled for the  miss Dowd goes on to comment that wednes Day symbolized for Many people in this self absorbed capital the sense that Washington is More and More a bystander to world events rather than a  but now get this. Back to Noonan. The Imperial City of Washington has been taken Aback by history because it thinks Hal in Musl help inc world Lurn on us Axis. Perhaps it s salutary to know Hal inc world can change Wilhour our permission or encourage  a Nice metaphor and metaphors arc is. Noonan s thing. Bui a nation that 30 years ago worried about hanging on to Quemoy and Matsu 20 years ago Wor ried about preserving the Freedom of a Small Indocci Csc Nalion with Good reason we were unable to do so goes to inc Brink of despair trying to bring Back 52 state department employees from the clutches of a moslem fanatic has been going crazy for eight years trying to do something about Nicaragua hardly has Gol around to thinking Hal god Waits for Washington to wind the clock every Day. Is. Dowd s commentary goes on. In political Cir cles where Stra Legisla arc accustom cd to promoting the notion of Good is. Evil the news was disco Boulat ing. The so vices the verifying presence in All those James Bond films and Ronald Reagan speeches seemed to be trying to kick the traces of their evil Empire image. It s disorienting is. Noonan said because it s hard to know whom to assign the evil role to " now thai is gag Lime. It is one thing to applaud inc changes or. Gorbachev has licensed and to Pray to the god whose existence he denies that these changes will take organic shape and that some Day we cold warriors can safely fade away. It is something Coli rely different to suppose that the dazzling changes in the soviet Union cast double on who is to blame for the Nightmare of the past 70 years. Only a few Days ago the soviet Union acknowledged for the first time that it was responsible for a famine beginning in 1932 that claimed More ukrainian lives than Hiller claimed jewish lives. The millions who died awful painful lonely deals in a gulag or up Cal years in soviet dungeons for the least infraction against soviet orthodoxy arc not made to have lived painless lives because we think now to wonder Oul loud whom to assign inc evil role  whal was evil about american diplomacy was its in ability to mobilize More quickly to prompt More Effi carious by an end to the awful suffering brought on by the dog artists whose influence has not ended Only a few weeks ago Zimbabwe declared itself a marxist Leninist state. God help Gorbachev. But Here is a quote for the Day thai casts Light on the question. In is from the last paragraph of James Burnham s the coming defeat of communism published in 1949, when Gorbachev was a worker at a machine tractor station the defeat of communism probable on the facts is also inevitable because there Are enough deter mined men in the world and their number daily grows who have so resolved. The knowledge and intelligence which enter into the synthesis of politics Are still needed in order to make that defeat As fruitful As possible a Victory As sparing As possible of blood and treasure. But the Issue is no longer in doubt. Doubt is vanquished by the act of will which makes the decision. The future becomes servant not master univ trawl part Syndicate the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government