European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 23, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday december 23, 1991 the stars and stripes. A Page 13 commentary . Rosentha Gorbachev a Pebble in the people s shoe Mikhail s. Gorbachev is talking in his Kremlin Chambers a talking courteously gracefully and forcefully for an hour about himself and his country mustering the strength to act As if his life Power and nation were not shattering around him. He also acts As if he does not know that he has bitter enemies who Are waiting for him to leave the Kremlin a Protection some of them waiting in prison. But of course he must know. He says important things that he has not Sair before except to his intimates. He says he has accepted the verdict of the people and the republics that a Commonwealth a not a state not a nation but a concept a will take the place of the country he ruled. But he wants a role in it he says he can help. He says he does not believe dark dictatorship will return. But then he says calmly that authoritarianism May be necessary to prevent destabilization. As he talks he knows what his visitors do not a that within a few hours he will sit Down with the Man who wants to drive him from that suite of offices forever. Boris n. Yeltsin is coming. It turns out Yeltsin a message is that All that remains for him is a pension. Sitting around his table Are about 25 russians other europeans and americans attending a conference on the Anatomy of hatred a a title that encompasses xenophobia racism anti semitism religious fanaticism. It has been organized by the much respected Magazine Ogo Nyok and one of the few men for whom Gorbachev and other holders of High office find time no matter what a Elie Wiesel Nobel peace prize laureate. Listening to Gorbachev i think of somebody not there a former Kab general who had unexpectedly appeared at the conference. Mai. Gen. Oleg Kalugin gave a Little talk on fighting hatred which coming from any top officer of the Kab present or former or perhaps in Between did not move me except to slight nausea. In september the general appeared on the . Television program Mcneil Lehrer news hour. He said something so important that i took a transcript with me to Moscow. There he suddenly was so i read out a passage in which he said he had a certain reasons to believe that the Kab a May have something about Gorbachev which we do not know yet exactly what but that might make him a dependent on the Kab or a a vulnerable to it. The general said one Day it might be used against Gorbachev by the Kab a particularly by its former chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov who is now in a cell awaiting trial As a member of the three Day coup. The general said Kryuchkov did know exactly what. The democracy Loving general said he still thought that would happen. His tone was just wait and see. In any Case the Assumption Here is that the coup makers All appointed by Gorbachev will not go quietly to life imprisonment without trying to take him along. Also a talk is around about Gorbachev being summoned to testify about scores of billions of dollars in foreign Loans or credit that have disappeared. That is not just a threat but a justified Legal step that could be blocked Only by former communist politicians of the Commonwealth who might not want to be asked too Many questions themselves. But in Gorbachev a private meeting room a two Nail holes in the brocaded Wall show where Marx and Lenin recently looked Down a i thought mostly of How warm and courageous he was and How historically important was his decision to try to save the communist system by opening its windows to a Large measure of Freedom. But then every time i hear myself think that i also hear what political prisoners of the soviet system say on release a glad not grateful. Neither they nor As it developed the people Ever would be grateful to that suffocating system or to a Leader trying to preserve As much of it As he could. The people obviously Felt they had the right to More Freedom and to bread too a even sausage once in a while. He could not do that within the system and would not abandon it. That is we he is now a Pebble in the shoe. Gorbachev talked of terrible economic crisis of growing destabilization. But he talked As if somehow he Nad nothing to do with it All. His enemies know he did and Are waiting. His friends know that too but they will try to help him when he is out of office at least As Long As they can. C the new York times Daniel Mendel Black old Joe an the gang sell social acceptance seems like everywhere i look i see the a hard pack ads for Camel cigarettes. Old Joe and his Herd of Cool jazz playing Pool hustling poker playing cigarette smoking fellow Dro medaries Beckon to me from the Side of my bus in the Middle of my subway Stop in my magazines and even on the clothes of people around me. This Campaign is one of i tie bigger successes in recent and history if one judges and Success by the Way it infuriates some people. Two weeks ago it received the infamous Hubbard a Lemon a awarded by a coalition of consumer and health groups to the years most insidious Lavertis ments. And last week the journal of the american medical association revealed that 5,000 children surveyed recognized old Joe As readily As they did the Silhouette of Mickey mouse. What distinguishes the latest camels Campaign from previous ads is its social context. Old Joe for decades was just a Distant dromedary standing near some Pyramid in a desert. Now he is part of a crowd and a pretty hip one. They Are material successes As Well in one and old Joe lounges by night in a Hollywood Hills Pool. The ads Are Selling cigarettes by Selling a peer group of sorts and it wants me to smoke. These ads Are More than consumer engineering. They Are another gimmick All together social engineering. The Campaign is a constant reminder that i am incessantly judged by the products i buy. Long before the a hard pack gang came along old Joe was a Solo or. Smooth a cooler than than spuds Mckenzie. Spuds world was fairly simple a Beach parties and swooning women. Old Joe had a much More powerful Aura in past cartoon ads he even piloted nuclear subs. He was my kind of Guy a Debonair and stylish. In the late �?T80s, my College housemates and i had his poster in our bathroom. It was one of the first versions of the or. Smooth Type Camel then making his debut in the american Market after a successful decade or so in the european Media. Mike Salisbury the artist who invented the smooth character was refining what had been a playful caricature fitting Joe with double breasted suits and Disney coloured scots. But just As Mickey mouse evolved into a family of familiar cartoon characters old Joe is by now being sold Complete with a make believe world. The a hard pack Campaign is not just asking me to Light up it wants me to take part in the inside joke of its Story line old Joe and his friends Are asking me to join the bandwagon. What makes it a powerful Campaign is the band s potential scorn at my re nasal to play along a far More cunning scheme than old Joe a Macho Ever offered this is a Challenge to �?T90s Cool. I May not be All that crazy about Joe a band but its obvious that plenty of other people like it. This cute dromedary with an undeniably phallic snout has spawned a flourishing subsidiary Market. I can buy a hard pack posters Caps sweat clothes and to shirts directly from . Reynolds. Street vendors have even begun to sell counterfeits. We have become walking billboards. . Reynolds and Campaign is not sell ing sex a the latest Coors Parade of sem nude bodies comes to mind it is not Selling me class either a the economic status that accompanies a Mercedes Benz for example. No Joe and his buddies offer me a wholly surreal social status through Affinity with their product. If i accept their offered cigarette become part of their band join their pack i get their cartoon Cool approval. I get to be Cool too. Its an invitation in be yet to accept but even Mickey mouse never offered me a Deal like that. Tha Wmk h a Washington Poal Kwh Ama. A Wrt Laa an Madia Tach Notony and popular Cultura