European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 22, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes saturday december 22, 1990mary Mcgrory War could help save the to someone who was Bent on becoming a your environmental president a the crisis in the persian Gulf offered a Peerless if perilous Opportunity to drive Home to americans the need to change heir gasoline habits. But four months have passed since Saddam Hussein crashed into Kuwait a and the president has yet to say his first voluntary word about conservation. His Devil May care Altitude was unfurled in a press conference on aug. 2.1, when he was asked about calling upon americans to i think we ought to conserve in times like this a replied the skipper of a Gas guzzling cigarette boat. A on the other hand that does no to mean that life screeches to a halt. In a going to keep using my for hundreds of thousands of reservists of course life has screeched to a halt and one of the reasons they Are in flip Sand is the preservation of Oil prices a although the president does no to like to hear it put to iat Way. It is however unavoidable for anyone rationalizing his Bellicose policy. Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii crassly told the restless politicians that a jobs were at stake in the Gulf in Case they were thinking of opposing the presidents bid for military action Dan Quayle took a Cut at the reasons in a speech that has been praised by the administration for its cogency. One of them was a to ensure the uninterrupted flow of Oil a from this messenger the message is not assured of respectful attention. Rep. Les a com d-ore., reporting wide anti War sentiment in his District says that dissidents Are delighted that the administration is using Quayle As a Bugle to rally troops for yet another War he will not have to fight. Quot the present old the artful dodgers on the other Side is a great / the president himself in his most coherent presentation to Date warned that the economic slowdown would get worse if uncertainty remains in the Energy . A All in All the president has been going out of his Way to avoid the subject of what we could do to reduce our prodigious consumption of Energy and ouf fateful dependence engulf Oil to keep our cars and factories moving. his Point of View it is probably prudent to avoid discussion our Energy Supply. He is an Oil Man and the Oil business hates talk of conservation. At the Petroleum clubs where he finds Many of his Best friends they would rather hear about opening up offshore Oil drilling and off limits tracts in Alaska. Detroit recoils at one of the environmentalists favorite remedies higher Oil efficiency in cars a requirement they Call prohibitively expensive As they do most reforms. They also hate talk fuels such As ethanol methanol and natural Gas. \ any major overhaul in Energy policy would be an implicit criticism of his predecessor and Patron Ronald Anthony Lewis of fms amp a amp a i be got we Energy Conj Ervion statement Row or. President Reagan who lifted Price controls on Oil prices in 19ffl. In the 1980s, the United states paid $1.1 trillion for foreign Oil. Rep. Bill Alexanderd Ark thinks that a we should add in our military expenses to protect the Middle East Supply. Using military costs alone gasoline is now costing about $5.50 a yet there is no debate about Energy policy just As there is of now no Energy policy it took a while to get the conversation going about the Wisdom of going to War maybe when armed services chairman Sam Nunn has finished wringing reasons out of the administration he will take on the Root cause. Some Are speaking up. The admirable Washington monthly has issued a Call for Gas rationing a which causes Only scoffing amid Energy sophisticates. But in the. Current Issue James Bennet argues persuasively that a George Bush would have a far easier time convincing americans Oil is Worth rationing than he will convincing them its Worth dying environmentalists gathered this week under the auspices of the communications consortium to speculate and agitate about the policy being formulated at the department of Energy. The Doe record is not encouraging. According to Energy consultant Charles Koma Noff the department in 1990 allocated $900 million to nuclear fission and fusion approximately the same to Oil and Coal technology less than $200 million to Energy efficiency and $113 million to All renewable sources wind solar arid Thermal. A but Jeff Tryens of the Center of policy alternatives said a contrary to popular belief government activity in Energy efficiency did not vanish 10 years ago. It just moved out of Washington a people from the provinces especially California Are forging ahead As if Energy efficiency were an achievable alternative to War Over Oil. Quot v. ,. A Quot a c Universal press Syndicate. A Eduard Shevardnadze a. Nation recalls us to our sense of preparation in world affairs. It makes us realize that while we have been preoccupied with the persian Gulf life and polities in the soviet Union have been deteriorating to what is now a Point of menace. Shevardnadze was Mikhail Gorbachev a closest ally in the opening up of soviet society according to Gorbachev the whole idea of glasnost and perestroika a opening and restructuring arose from a conversation Between the two men As they walked on a Black sea Beach. The resignation was a Thunderclap not Only because of who he was but because of How he went. Shevardnadze gave As his reason that the soviet Union was moving in the direction of it was As of Janies a. Baker Iii had told a congressional committee that he was resigning As his Friend George Bush a Secretary of state because the american Politi Cul system was headed for disaster Why did Shevardnadze resign an immediate cause was that he was tired of being hounded by conservative critics. In recent months he has been savagely attacked for allowing the reunification of Germany on Western terms and Quot beg Gingo for american food Aid. That criticism reflected a division in russian thought going Back a Century and More Between those who favor westernization and slav philes who want the country to look inward to a Mystic slavic tradition. Shevardnadze is a westernized through and through. The anti Western tradition is joined now by communist party bureaucrats opposed to the loss of their privileges. And lately a third powerful element has joined the resistance to change those who Call for a forceful restoration of order in the soviet Union As the answer to economic and political strains. The Day before Shevardnadze s announcement a coalition of military religious and literary figures called for direct Rule by the Kremlin in turbulent areas of the country. The 53 signers of an open letter included the chief of the armed forces general staff Gen. Mikhail a Moiseyev. The letter called on Gorbachev to a put an end to the chaos and suggested a instituting a state of emergency and presidential Rule in zones of major Gorbachev said he w us ready to do that where there was serious threat tothe state . Against the background of such talk Shevardnadze a warning of dictatorship looks extremely serious. Is it possible that Mikhail Gorbachev the Man who so courageously moved the soviet Union out of its paralysing fear is now prepared to go backward it is certainly True that he is relying increasingly on the military and the Kab in internal affairs. A leading soviet expert professor Marshall Goldman of Wellesley College and Harvard said the soviet president had been asking for More and More Legal pow a with what he has he finds he can do nothing a Goldman said. A so maybe he thinks a it i get just this one More i can make it work its really backwards. When he gets another Pover and can do nothing he loses More credibility. But he s driven a he can to think of anything else to do this was a Golden Era but maybe its over.�?�, a \ v. A. _ for us in the West to write off Mikhail Gorbachev would be and foolish. He has done More than anyone would have thought possible to introduce democracy. If he is faltering now it May not to resign be for Lack of desire to continue on the Reform path but simply because the difficulties Are a great. But whatever we wish the fact is that Gorbachev has lost credibility with his people a the legitimacy that enables leaders to govern democratically. And that has worrying consequences How is the new world order that president Bush wants to build through the United nations going to work with a soviet leadership under internal nationalist pressure can Bush continue to count on soviet support in the persian Gulf crisis will the strategic arms reduction treaty go Forward without Shevardnadze the other Day Gorbachev was surrounded by reporters in the lobby of the Congress of Peoples deputies. He said a unfortunately our society is not ready for the procedures of a Law based state. We done to have that level of political culture those traditions. All that will in the future but the important thing in the meantime is not to smash each other s a new York times
