European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 2, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday october 2, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary Leslie h. Gel Bush s initiatives contradict dire warnings president Bush a Friday night initiatives on nuclear arms were designed to make the world a safer place which they will and to head off Congress from slashing military spending. But in a curious Way the weapons programs he now says he will cancel even unilaterally and the reasons he gave for taking these actions could legitimize the far deeper cuts in spending he desperately wants to avoid. Remember what happened in the immediate Wake of the failed soviet coup. Moderate and Liberal legislators argued that this meant the end of the soviet Union and of the soviet threat and that it established a Clear basis to lower . Military efforts. Bush administration officials hit Back hard saying that the old regime was gone but 30,000 soviet nuclear weapons remained and that it would be crazy for the United states to eliminate even one of its nuclear programs. But almost everything Bush said Friday Contra dieted these warnings. In effect he conceded that usable soviet military Power had virtually vaporized. This Point is of Central importance because the bulk of the Pentagon a $290 billion budget still pivots on the soviet threat and if that threat has nearly vanished so has the rationale for half the budget. Bush said a the Warsaw pact has  he said a the soviet nuclear stockpile now seems less an instrument of National Security and More of a  but even More than what Bush said Friday look at what he did. He ordered the unilateral destruction or withdrawal of All . Short Range nuclear arms. He did so principally because he feared a and soviet leaders themselves fear a that these Small and Mobile arms could fall into uncontrollable hands. Bush also terminated the land Mobile versions of the my and midget Man missiles. Until a few Short weeks ago the Pentagon argued that these missiles were essential ingredients in deterring a soviet first strike. Their cancellation shows Bush cannot be too worried about such an attack. What is striking about Bush a Friday conversion is that he failed to follow this logic to other common sen Sical conclusions. He could have used the same thinking to eliminate the b-2 stealth bomber he did not. This plane now priced at $850 million per copy or about a years Worth of the head Start program no longer has a Mission that cannot be performed As Well and More cheaply by existing weapons. Everything Bush did and did not do Friday was prologue to his main concern a to push Congress and the soviet Union into accepting a scaled Down version of Ronald Reagan so Star  ikn0wa Lowdown Varmint when i see one this would be primarily a ground based missile system with space based sensors and management satellites. The purpose would be to defend against accidental soviet launches and attacks from potential nuclear countries such As North Korea or Iraq. No one can be confident that even this limited system can work or know what it will Cost. It is also far from Clear whether the soviets will agree to Amend the anti ballistic missile treaty and allow such a system. They could not begin to afford their own version and it is very unlikely that the United states would simply turn Over the technology or the finished product. Yet Bush still wants to plow ahead with an Effort that would surely Cost More than $5 billion annually just in the initial stages. Bush already plans for a 25 percent Cut in military spending Over six years and he believes that is about right. But with the Dent a of the soviet Union a Battle is shaping up in Washington for the soul of the nation and the defense budget now More than Ever will be at its Center. The Issue is not isolationism is. Internationalism or a Strong is. A weak foreign policy. It is where to strike the balance in americans scarce resources Between foreign and Domestic priorities. Bush a aim was and is to forestall a shift in emphasis from military to Domestic needs. But his words and deeds Friday validated just that shift. Congress emboldened by the presidents own new thinking and actions now Nas a springboard to go the rest of the Way on its own. C the now York Timo Salan Riding France s malaise not due just to politics for three decades after France lost its Empire the cold War enabled successive French presidents to keep alive the myth that it remained a great Power. It had an Independent nuclear deterrent it was the political Leader of the european Community it was influential in the Middle East and it had a special relationship with Moscow that it frequently used to pique Washington. But the events of the last year have badly shaken Frances self Confidence abroad. The country now feels intimidated by the growing political Power of a United Germany it seems unsure How to handle a turbulent Eastern Europe it has lost clout in the Arab world and it is uncomfortable with the United states As the sole remaining superpower. President Francois Mitterrand has not helped things by gambling badly at several key moments a trying to slow the Pace of German unification offering a face saving Deal to Iraq on the eve of the persian Gulf War appearing ready to accept the soviet coup As a fait a comply. And this in turn has made the 74-year-old president a convenient Scapegoat for the demise of French Gloire. Yet Frances troubled search for a new place for itself abroad might not matter to Ordinary frenchmen were it not accompanied by a simmering crisis of identity a a loss of direction a at Home. And for this Mitterrand is also blamed. Last week a new poll showed Mitterrand a approval rating had dropped to 46 percent a five year Low. Two weeks earlier another poll said 61 percent of those surveyed considered the president a worn out after 10 years in office. It could be of course that Mitterrand is just going through a bad Patch and will As before Bounce Back. In 1986, his socialist party lost legislative elections and he was forced to a a cohabit with a conservative prime minister Jacques Chirac for two years still he won re election to a new seven year term in 1988. Now with his new prime minister Edith Cresson faring poorly the prospects Are again for a conservative Victory in legislative elections in 1993, although no one would be surprised if the socialists won the presidency again in 1995. Yet the reasons for Frances malaise today run deeper than party politics. Indeed so indifferent Are most French to the political debate that Only 33 percent of registered voters cast ballots in a by election last sunday. Disenchantment with politicians has been partly fed by several scandals Over illegal funding of different parties. There is also the problem that no new leaders have emerged in the last decade lined up against Mitterrand Are still Chirac former president Valery Giscard Deestaing and the extreme rightist Jean Maric la pen. But perhaps most of All Many French voters no longer think they have a Clear political Choice. A inc 1983, when Mitterrand abandoned a disastrous Experiment with nationalization his economic policies have moved steadily to the right so that today they Are virtually indistinguishable from those advocated by conservatives. And if the opposition took office it too would find French monetary policy is largely defined by the German Bundesbank while Many other economic decisions Are taken by the european Community. All this has become relevant in recent months As solid economic growth has Given Way to recession. Now the social costs of recent Overall Prosperity a a High rate of unemployment and a permanent squeeze on workers wages a Are More difficult to hide. Strikes particularly of Public services ranging from transportation to hospitals Are on the Rise. On one subject immigration there is intense debate. Yet for Lack of a coherent response from the country a politicians the discussion has Only added to uncertainty about the future. Until the mid-1970s, Arab and african immigrants were welcomed As temporary workers but by the mid-1980s it was Clear they had come to stay. And As they brought their wives from Home and had children of their own the emergence of new ghettos in Many Urban neighbourhoods fed French hostility toward third world immigrants. Today the growing reality of an ethnically diverse society a 4 million of Frances 55 million inhabitants were born abroad a is seen As one More threat to the French Way of life. And the trend is Likely to continue. Ordinary citizens worry about recession and unemployment about falling educational standards and rising immigration. Cresson alarms them by talking heatedly about Japan a economic a takeover a while foreign minister Roland Dumas whispers about German influence embracing Eastern Europe. Last week Mitterrand was at least Able to flex French Muscles by sending troops to restore order after an army Mutiny in Zaire. But Back Home no one seemed too impressed. C Tho now York Tonus