European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 27, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 a the stars and stripes column Flora Lewis transition to people Power requires great care a few months ago when the Eastern atmosphere was More euphoric Vitaly Korotich editor of the soviet Magazine Ogo Nyok said a we the people Are the new  the people of Lithuania Are showing it is True in ways he probably did no to have in mind ways that require restraint because superpower is a heavy responsibility. There can be no More doubt that Lithuania and the other Baltic states at the least Are going to be Independent one Way or another. There is a momentum to events just As there came a time last year when there was no More Point to arguing whether or not Germany should be United. It had become inevitable. The question was How and when. The Baltic states Are evidently reaching such a Point. It is probable though perhaps not yet quite inevitable that the soviet Union is going to break Down in fragments perhaps leaving a Core of just the russian Republic though that would still be a huge land with some three quarters of soviet territory and half its people. There might be some kind of confederation holding More of the Empire together but that is becoming less Likely. How and when this develops matters tremendously because implosion of such a huge powerful state will affect the whole world. Mikhail Gorbachev a dilemma is grave. He Isnit really responsible a no Man could create such an earthquake. But he has been the catalyst for unleashing great accumulated pressures. Of course it is natural for the West to sympathize with the aspirations of the people of Lithuania who have discovered their new Power. The right of people to decide for themselves is Basic. But it is also necessary to keep in mind what a dramatic difference the How and when of carrying out their decision will make. It is seriously irresponsible to urge them to plunge ahead when we know we Are prepared to do Little More than weep at their funeral if it came to that As we did for hungarians in 1956 and czechoslovak in 1968. Indeed they have shown a remarkable sobriety and deliberation in their courage. The Wise Way to support them is not to urge them on with Early and impotent recognition of nationhood but with Assurance that the difficult passage ahead will bring them to their goal. Both Vilnius and Moscow have made Clumsy mistakes in the test of wills Over the last few months. Gorbachev should have known that threats would Only inflame resistance. But he apparently Felt he had to show others in his troubled realm that he could stand up to Defiance. It is not easy As Winston Churchill adamantly proclaimed to accept the task of presiding Over the dissolution of Empire. But it is Sage and valorous the highest test of statesmanship to do it when the time comes. Ichi Cantril itt Nethe results Are in Fello lithuanians its unanimous we can to know whether or not this is Gorbachev a veiled intention but it remains in our interest to leave him the Opportunity and not to provoke foreclosures. This is a tremendously delicate operation for the Bush administration. Sometimes saying very Little is harder than shouting As the previous administration probably would have done. So far Washington has performed Well. Perhaps the failure to take the measure of repression in China has diminished administration credibility in the soviet Case. The two situations Are totally different. In Beijing old men clinging to crumbling Power that can Only be held together by Force tried to dam a tide that is going to engulf them sooner or later. In Moscow an innovator is trying to ride and manage overwhelmingly difficult but irresistible currents. It might help if Washington were willing to show it sees the difference. The stakes Are enormous. There is no Way that the elaborately Woven strands of improving East West relations can be kept in hand if Moscow reverts to its traditional use of Force. Gorbachev must know that. But if he succumbs to the temptation and no doubt the urging of Many in his country to use the Power at his disposal it is not Only his own Hopes and plans that would be destroyed in the crash. The changes that he launched have reverberated around the world undermining tyrants and opening minds everywhere. That must not be allowed to Stop. But it will not be advanced by violence or chaos which All reasonable people must try to Avert. Recently Gorbachev told visiting Eastern europeans that the Choice was not Between him and More perestroika and glasnost. It was Between him and fascism he said bluntly. Maybe that too was scare tactics. But the danger of a russian nationalist fascism or the anarchy that would surely Lead to it As successor to a decomposing soviet Union is real. The transition is critical. People Power requires thoughtful people on the sidelines As Well As on the scene. C new York Tim Santhony . Must Stop financing murder in Salvador it is an old question but it will not go away a when will the United states get serious about stopping the murderous behaviour of the armed forces we train and finance in Al Salvador in the last 10 years the United states has spent nearly $5 billion on Al Salvador $ 1 billion of it for military Aid. In that time the salvadoran forces have killed More than 40,000 civilians most of them because someone thought they were politically suspicious. Washington has talked again and again about the need for Al Salvador to get its House in order but not one officer has been convicted of those crimes. Successive administrations have shied away from doing the one thing the killers in uniform might understand cutting off military Aid until the guilty Are punished. The roman Catholic archbishop of san Salvador Oscar Romero was assassinated As were four Church women from the United states. Then two american labor representatives were shot in the Sheraton hotel As they met a land Reform Leader. Each of those events aroused outrage in the United states. There were Calls for suspension of . Aid and Congress attached some conditions. But in the end the administration of the Day prevailed with the argument that Al Salvador must not be allowed to fall to the marxist guerrillas. The Money kept flowing. The murder of six Jesuit priests last november has brought the Issue Forward again. There is no doubt the killers were in the armed forces president Alfredo Cris Tiani said so on Jan. 7, calling the murders  but there is very great doubt the army will allow those responsible to be punished. Democrats in Congress Are moving to Cut Aid because of Al Salvador a appalling human rights record. The state department resisting says the time is not right to put pressure on the salvadoran government because it is going into negotiations with the rebels next month. But to the state department the time is never right. What is at stake is not just a minimum level of decency in Al Salvador. It is our own Honor. For in the Effort to keep Aid flowing the . Government has undertaken to apologize and explain everything away for its client the murderous salvadoran armed forces. That was painfully Clear on a recent segment of lbs news a �?o60 minutes a which dealt with the death of the jesuits. The . Ambassador to Al Salvador William Walker was interviewed by de Bradley. Watching the ambassador Prevar Cate hearing him Praise the a a diligent investigators of the murders i thought he had really become the . Ambassador to the salvadoran military. On Jan. 2, Walker said there was no evidence the military was involved in the jesuits murder rebels dressed in government uniforms might have done it he suggested. Those preposterous propositions were exploded five Days later by president Cristianit a statement. There was an eyewitness that bloody night Lucia Cerna the jesuits housekeeper. She was flown to the United states where she was questioned for four Days under threatening circumstances by the Fri and a salvadoran colonel a until finally afraid she said she had seen nothing. Walker then said she was not credible. But she returned to her account and it has stood up. Which Side Are we on when a salvadoran officer told an american the military had killed the jesuits the . Embassy passed the informants name on to the army a which cancelled his pending appointment As military attache in Washington. Which Side Are we on the salvadoran chief of staff also was interviewed by �?o60  beforehand the . Embassy gave him a tape of walkers interview. Which Side Are we on the head of the salvadoran military Academy col. Guillermo Benavides has been arrested in connection with the Jesuit murders. But no one in Al Salvador thinks he will be convicted. The murder of the jesuits was almost certainly ordered at a higher level than colonel. Is there going to be any serious Effort to find out where responsibility lies the unit involved in the killings the Atla Catl battalion was trained by . Special forces. What does that say to our frequent assertion that better training will end human rights violations in policy on Al Salvador it is time to ask ourselves some hard questions. C new York times