European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 24, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday february 24, 1992 the stars and stripes commentary Leslie h. Gelb Cut defense budget according to threats As Campaign �?T92 Heads South republicans and democrats will no longer be Able to ignore perhaps their most telling Point of conflict democratic presidential hopefuls propose cuts in . Military spending roughly three times greater than now projected by president Bush. Bushes peace dividend a or savings on i a a a w a a. A a a h w w a a w f 1 a w t planned defense outlays a would total about $66 billion by 1997. His democratic opponents Are calling for Savinc of Between $180 billion Ana $200 billion by that Date. Almost As startling As this Gap is the fact that even the democratic candidates Are talking about limited reductions. Their Pentagon budget five years from now would still be More than $200 billion in today a dollars a or about one third the present budget. In other words the much touted peace dividend to produce extra dollars for Domestic priorities and deficit reduction is turning out to be far smaller than expected. And the peace dividend will be smaller still if democratic leaders in Congress have their Way. Their suggested cuts put them closer to Bush than to their own would be party Standard bearers an embarrassing fact that is just beginning to Dawn on several of them. Legislators a democrats and republicans a say they Are worried that faster reductions will Lead to swelling unemployment Rolls. But the Pentagon is not supposed to be a Job Agency and a particularly expensive one at that. Concerned legislators would better serve their country if they followed sen. Sam Nunns Lead and put their minds to creating new jobs for military personnel in education and new uses for unneeded military bases. In any event the size of the defense budget should be set relative to Overall National priorities and a realistic judgment of external threats. On these counts democratic presidential hopefuls make More sense than their congressional counterparts and Bush. It is very hard to understand Why military outlays cannot be reduced by at least one third Over the next Dale Dauten five years. Until now Well Over half of the defense budget has been devoted to countering soviet threats. That country is now a fractured Bunch of Basket cases begging to be Allied with Washington. Meanwhile the Pentagon is thrashing around trying to justify a Force that will be about 1.6 million Strong Down from the present 2.1 million by 1997. The new York times recently published the results of that thrashing a set of seven illustrative scenarios where the United states might be called upon to use military Power. It would be easy to make fun of these scenarios but that would be unfair. The United states needs an effective and Strong military and the military has to think about situations where Force May be Likely. But the striking thing about the Pentagon list is How far its planners had to stretch to come up with any plausible threats. A resurgent Iraq or an attack by North Korea on South Korea Are practically off imaginable charts. And the United states along with its allies could Deal with them crushingly with Only a fraction of current military Power As happened in the persian Gulf War. As for protecting american citizens in places like the Philippines or Panama a few battalions and a few air squadrons could do the Job easily. And As for worrying about some new world military Power none is near any horizon. These comments oversimplify to be sure. Pentagon planners have to think about length of combat troop rotations support of an Industrial base and the like. They Are also in the business of Selling insurance. The United states bought a great Deal of insurance against Moscow for 40 years mostly Well spent. Americans paid the Price not because they thought Moscow really would attack Europe or the United states but because the effects of soviet military might had to be counterbalanced and because the actual use of that might would fundamentally damage american Security. Currently imaginable threats to . Interests Are trivial by comparison. \ i / / / a \ \ i i / l i stealth face divided democratic presidential candidates have solid arguments for the one third cuts in spending they propose and should press their Case harder. And congressional democrats should look again at their own position and do their part by pushing the Pentagon to justify its much higher spending projections. Otherwise the peace dividend will vanish in the usual a a complexities of Washington a political Bazaar. C Tho now York Elmo what has Japan done for the world lately the latest Trade statistics show Japan with a new leading Export attitude. With the new arrogance we can expect livelier names for the latest car models a the new Honda hardball the Mazda dogmatic the Toyota supercilious and the Suzuki Shaft. Also Sony a Spring advertising can be built around a new slogan a better products by a better  not to be outdone Sony a biggest rival Panasonic then can unveil its a a we re japanese and you re not Campaign. Hold on. Lets put the worlds Var on pause for a moment and ask ourselves this question what has the vaunted japanese work ethic done for the world lately i decided to write Down As Many japanese contributions to Mankind As i could think of. There Sah. There a. Well there a the Walkman that a one. The cd player a no that was european Wasny to it firecrackers no that was China. Give me a minute. Hey i got another one origami. That a two. And Godzilla. That a three. Maybe i am being narrow minded i thought. So i called a business school professor Friend a Man who has studied Apan and travelled there several times. A the japanese have made a lot of Money and they have earned a reputation for product Quality but what have they invented a i asked him. He thought awhile then laughed a off the top of my head All i can come up with is sushi and Bonsai  a How do you get to be a world Leader without inventing anything a a they done to invent things. They make them. Its the Toyota manufacturing system a that a a noun a and everything comes from that. It got them where they  a i  _ theart mass of Affini insults a flow t Conneu now All the profits Are spoiling Japan a industrialists. When you Start to laugh at your customers to think of them As weak and inferior you Are already in decline. So this yank is not ready to Bow to Japan. Not yet. Id like to keep an Eye on it for another decade or two. Lets see a if it produces inventions comparable to the Telephone the computer the television air travel space travel and the polio vaccine or b if its wealth leads to a generosity to match the Marshall plan. Better yet i offer japanese technology this Challenge of the following four items a a a cure for cancer b a cure for aids c workable solar Power d an end to world hunger a come up with two. Do that and japanese leaders will have the right to Export All the attitude they want to produce. Tempe an businessman author Dale a Jotun writes weekly Lor the Mesa Tribune c co news service