European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 4, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 a the stars and stripes columns a William f. Buckley fawning America pays homage to Mikhail it was a wonderful scene at least that much of it that television let us in on. Seated on the Royal throne Mikhail i founder of Gorbach Chism. And fanned out before him the distillate or american cultural prestige ranging from the director of the Library of Congress to Jane Fonda. President Gorbachev had warmed them up with a half hour of Impromptu remarks. At least one must Hope they were Impromptu because if they were prepared they were miserably prepared wandering All Over the lot. His mood was genial and he lapsed quickly into the vernacular didactic Einstein addressing High school sophomores on the nature and habits of the fourth dimension. Sec he said capitalism Isnit something you can just usher in a any More than you can just usher in a baby. It lakes nine months so that All those protests in the soviet Union Are to be expected because there arc birthing pains. Understand the class nodded their Heads and chuckled. We then saw or read about recitals by class members done to catch the fancy of the King. I saw Henry Kissinger who with that gift he has for total solemnity pronounce peace the most important objective which is half True and Well known to Kissinger to be exactly that. All his life he has fought for peace with Freedom. The new York times Bill Keller wrote a emr. Kissinger reportedly recounted How president Nixon his former Boss had been hampered in pursuing detente by hard liners within his these Are words unquestionably misreported since what the Nixon administration primarily lacked was hard liners As or. Kissinger a two books amply and eloquently document. But there is no question that in closing standing at the lectern opposite the King Henry had a Little lapse. He said he was a a confident that president Gorbachev would do the right things to bring peace to the world and then he said that he a a hoped president Bush also would do the right things. The presence of or. Gorbachev is said to be hypnotic and or. Kissinger has had several encounters with him. But it was at least amusing at most disconcerting to hear our most original foreign policy thinker express within the Bounds of a single sentence a Confidence Quot that soviet leadership would go in the right direction and Mere a a Hope that . Leadership would go in the right direction. Then we heard from professor John Kenneth Galbraith commanding As always in style presence and Altitude. Order in which plural systems could coexist peacefully. But you have to remember that Galbraith is More worried than Gorbachev about the survival of socialism. Since the birth of socialism takes not nine months but 99 times nine months Galbraith needs to be reconciled to the unlikelihood of socialism succeeding anytime during the lives of his grandchildren. Gorbachev was unquestionably reassured that . Galbraith would not Lead a War movement against a de socialized Russia. The next episode was by All accounts the most charming. It brought to mind that wonderful moment at Bretton Woods in 1944 when planning was being done to found the United nations. Already there was gridlock. The soviet Union with its usual subtlety wanted the san Francisco founding conference to begin on May 1. We were pushing for april 10. What he said was that he hoped to Sec a world the wrangling went on for hours when finally the voice was heard of an assistant Secretary from the British delegation. He was acknowledged and proposed the Date of april 25. A Why april 25?�?� the presiding official asked. A a it a my birthday a said the Secretary. And april 25 it was. The next person to approach the lectern was Van Cliburn and the guests must have wondered whether his intention was to move on to the piano and play a Medley combining the soviet National Anthem and a the Star spangled but no he said he wanted president Gorbachev to meet his Mother Rildia Bee. There were tremors of amused Delight by the cognoscenti and the interpreter hesitated for a moment in relaying Gorbachev swords. Someone with a smattering of russian thought he had said something like a that lady can have one of my Dachau when she comes to but that Wasny to it at All though whatever one got through the interpreter was appropriately maternal perhaps a reference to the nine months of gestation that had been necessary for Van to be born with such skills. Universal press Syndicate Andrew j. Glass Gorbachev needs sound Economy to finish Job Washington a from sunny sidewalks last week Ordinary americans cheered when his curtained Black limousine bearing Moscow License plate 8644 halted so he could work the delighted Rush hour crowd. Only a month before on May Day Mikhail s. Gorbachev had stood atop the Tomb of Lenin the holy of holies in the communist pantheon while below his own people jeered him. The a rabble a As he later called them had defiantly marched in cobbled red Square bearing red flags from which the yellow Hammer and sickle of his political Faith had been rudely ripped away. As befits communist Royalty the soviet president is the son and grandson of peasants. In world War ii in a Battle in Czechoslovakia a German Soldier shot his father. He later recovered in a polish Hospital his Mother still lives quietly amid the soft air and Rich soil of the Southern russian town where Gorbachev was born in the troubled 14th year of the bolshevik revolution. We Are the sum of All we have known. In this Guise Mikhail s. Gorbachev is no different than the rest of us. It is no Accident As Kremlin ideologues would say in the bad old Days that Gorbachev saw fit to cite the Specter of a nazi Germany As he stood beside president Bush on the South Lawn of the White House at the Start of this american visit. After flying Here from Canada Gorbachev asked Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii in for a Glass of georgian wine. Baker who can be quite Blunt beneath his suave texan exterior used the occasion to observe that you can to be half pregnant. If you re going to adopt a Market Economy then you had better get on with it he told his Host. Trip to Washington. But in the intervening 30 months things at Home hav gotten much worse. In 1985, the last cohort of old bolsheviks had opted for change and anointed him the new Leader. Since then he has vested More legalized Power into his presidential office than any occupant of the Kremlin since Peter the great the Western zing reformer who died in 1725. I agree Gorbachev replied. But he added in order to have a healthy child one has to wait nine months. It was All quite Clever even a bit philosophical and it continued the next Day with George Bush in the Oval office. It had become part of the regular Drill that after every Summit i the americans Gorbachev Wou pause on the Way Back to Moscow reassure his Loyal Warsaw pact a a this time around however the Paw lies dormant. His former East bum lies dormant his for Sci Pean allies Are gone. Fittingly newly prosperous South koreans serve As his Post Summit Targ. Will engage them while still on a can turf in talks about Trade and in vestment. Since Christmas of 1987, Lac fsr a a Mil Agenda has been stopped 9. A familiar standbys As Angola at Stan and Nicaragua. The cold j May indeed be Over. But the St that the Summit ers both speak not come to pass until the Sovic p Ner succeeds in putting his eco Bush reflected in Public upon a a certain strength and confidences a that he saw in Gorbachev both in Malta and during their Summit talks Here. Nevertheless Gorbachev appears neither willing nor Able to take the needed hard Steps to invigorate a Basket Case Economy seemingly drained of Alt strength. Nearly everyone who meets Gorbachev remarks on his disarming touch. You americans he told an Eclectic set of luncheon guests pretty much know what a Market is and How it works. A but we Are innocent so to say. As far As a Market is concerned we have to Start from Gorbachev had spoken in much the same vein when he met in the same ornate embassy Salon with much the same people during his last Summit Bjk i m my of
