European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 6, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday february 6, 1993 it commentary the stars and stripes Page 15unity can coexist under Freedom Paris a they re rioting in Africa As the old song goes throughout that continent warring tribes Are ripping apart the once occur a Borders of nationhood. The Specter of National separation is haunting Europe too dissolution worked out peacefully in the former soviet Empire but breaking up is proceeding with ancient savagery in the former Yugoslavia. This illustrates the Central political fact of the pos communist world Peoples who Are the ethnic majority in any Given area Are reshuffling the deck of nations. Is this a bad thing should today a great Powers try to Stop this trend and enforce old Borders Laid out by previous great Powers after world wars sometimes separation is healthy. Ukrainians a people of a a language William Safire distinct culture and language deserved to be free of russian domination. The kurdish pc pie of Iraq recent target of genocide by foreign masters in Baghdad should be free to set up their capital in Kirkuk. But sometimes the reshuffling leads to a terrorist tidiness where the separation is based on the hatred of strangers As in serbian parts of Bosnia and Croatia the local ethnic majority unleashes its rage t6 Settle age old scores and the world rightly recoils at a a purification of a population by rape and Bayonet. Agitators for the conceptual Frame workers Union Are groping for criteria to help their Bosses judge when to support and when to oppose the great reshuffling. Here Are a few standards under consideration 1. When a Large majority of people in a Region Are of one ethnic group when those people arc politically repressed or culturally stifled by a different group in control of that Region a then the maltreated local majority has a moral Call on the world to Aid its self determination. That simple wilsonian idealism will get some nationalist noses out of joint but it has roots in John Locke s ideas about the legitimacy of rulers. That a Why a Trio of democratic Powers while disinclined to meddle in most disputes within established nations is now reluctantly assuming a Post communist a right to intervene with sanctions or even military Force in Caisas of bloody repression. It would be useful to get this bord Erless conscience codified in International Law. 2. Granting local autonomy to minorities within an established state is a Good Way of defusing powder kegs a Central government can instill National Pride in a minority by offering Home Rule. Nationalists fear however that granting autonomy May encourage breaking away. Hungarians outside Hungary the largest minority group in Europe want to run their own lives in Romania but Romania fears such devolution of Power would Lead to an attempt by its ethnic hungarians to merge with Hungary. We should encourage local ethnic Solidarity Only when minority rights Are threatened. 3. When local groups competing for the same area cannot get along the idea of cantons a self governing enclaves based on ethnicity Long successful in Switzerland a offers a Good transition to Federal democracy. The Vance Owen plan for Bosnia separating combatants by ethnic background into regions is notably similar to the Sharon plan for the West Bank. The israeli has Long had a map in his pocket designating areas to be run by arabs Federated with Jordan and settlements of jews Federated with Israel. Nobody wins or loses and people learn to live in proximity. 4. Some reshuffling along ethnic lines is acc Essaiy now to keep people from one another a throats but in nation building neatness docs not count. Granting local Power to distinct cultures is a useful Means of Cooling hatreds but segregation even when voluntary is not a value. The single ethnic state is least Likely to develop the majority Rule restrained by minority rights that is the Genius of modern democracy Why Are Britain France and the . Struggling with the moral imperative of intervention while Germany and Japan callously turn away because multiracial Multi cultured nations Are More trained to tolerance and directed by conscience than nations of less varied makeup. As unstable states convulse in tribal realignment we should remind the reshuffle is the political system that delivers the most Freedom is the one that cherishes diversity within National Unity. C the now Yolk times race for instant opinion Likely to miss the Mark this is what happens when you take a few Days off. Several Days under the Sun and the sunblock and i thought id missed the entire Clinton presidency. Each morning i woke up to brewed Coffee and instant analysis. One Day the resident was stumbling foundering laundering. The next he was not ready or prime time not up to playing in the big leagues and on the ropes. Then he tvs under siege on the defensive and losing ground. By the end of the week it was a somber tones now a unclear whether his administration would recover. The Clinton presidency Wasny to two weeks old and the Media biggies had written its obituary. Now maybe just maybe this Bill overkill was a declaration of Independence. During the Campaign after All reporters were accused of being biased against Bush and in favor of Clinton. Some of the accusations stuck. In Washington during inaugural week i ran into a respected colleague who confided to me and to half a dozen others nearby that a i worried that i be Able to be As Tough on the Guy that i voted the reporter was Happy to announce that this fear had been unfounded. A a it a been easy a maybe it was predictable that Many Woula renew their credentials As a a objectives journalists Over Clinton swarm body. Maybe Washington journalists a As permanent an establishment As Congress a just got involved in some Early Power struggle with the new Man in the White House. Maybe these insiders were testing the outsider. But i think a a Quot Quot Quot the premature news of Clinton a political death had As much to do with Media Tempo As temperament. There is simply a Rush to judgment. Some of this comes from the technology of what is routinely called the information age. Phones faxes computers satellites a have seeded up everything. Especially Goodman the frenzy of the Days events Are now transmitted instantly and simultaneously to every news organization. Newspapers that once tried to beat each other with stories Are now As Likely to compete with analysis. On television journalists now routinely appear on talk shows with an attitude were they Are encouraged to say what they think about something they May not have finished thinking about. The hosts Are often in too much of a hurry for anything but multiple Choice questions yes or no answers. The audience is not expected to listen but rather to watch words being fired across tables. Opinion hurling has become an indoor sport. On radio too a Story Breaks at noon and by drive time a need i Call it Rush hour a a the Call in hosts Are hustling instant opinions on everything from Zoe Baird to Bosnia. At this Speed the shelf life of news a what is new a has been Cut by half and half again. But instant opinion is an oxymoron. You done to get real opinions in an instant. You get reactions. A reaction is something that can come from the knee. Hit it and it jerks. An opinion is something that Best comes from the head. Thinking is a alas a a much slower process. In journalism there has always been a tension Between getting it first and getting it right. In today s amphetamine world of news junkies Speed Trumps thoughtfulness too often the Rush is always on to judgment. Its True in the Legislatures where a fax attack can destroy a Bill or a career overnight. It s equally True in journalism. From this we get the obituaries of the Clinton administration to be followed i am sure by reports of its resurrection. Soon to be playing in your local Media Market. But this first increasingly rough draft of history May miss the news. Sometimes that news is a Story about people who Are dearly More patient than those who live and die by the hourly Cycle. Sometimes its about a Man now president who counts on his ability to convince people to grab them by the Lapel and keep talking until they come around. The race of daily Small changes can even miss the slow Pace of Maior change. So to the folks w to say its Over before it s begun i offer three Little words. Not so fast. C the Boston globs
