European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 31, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday december 31,1993 v commentary 1 the stars and stripes Page 13russian turmoil makes Clinton visit extra the administration has heralded president Clinton a russian program As a foreign policy Triumph. But when he goes to Moscow next month that policy will be severely tested. Russians path to democracy and free markets hit a Roadblock with the surprising Success of anti Reform forces in the dec. 12 parliamentary elections. That sent the White House scrambling to retool the proposed Acif package Clinton will take to Moscow in mid january. For most russians reforms have brought an increase in misery corruption and crime. Is a a a Tom Raum Western Aid has been slow in coming. And Little of it has benefited the average worker. In Advance of Clinton s visit the White House is having a hard time even ending Sites for the president to visit that will dramatize benefits of a free Mark Mcconomy. A Case in Point is a sprawling Zil Auto Plant that Clinton May visit during his Jan. 12-15 trip to Russia. The factory known in the past for producing heavy ungainly cars a including the Black limousines favored for years by communist tarty officials a has entered into a joint venture with the . Firm Caterpillar. The me As Emoiy line Inai Usco to num every nay when in government ran the Plant is now operated Only fou Days a week a with workers giving up a Day s salary a part of an inevitable downsizing Effort. Plant has been privatized with employees now owning the largest share. The president May walk Down an Assembly line where pickup trucks Are manufactured All bearing Bright yellow .-made Caterpillar engines. It looks like the perfect photogenic showcase for the Benefi Nof private Enterprise an for investment opportunities. But look closer. Since the joint venture began several months ago Only 14 of the trucks have been sold. And the Assembly line that used to hum every Day when the a a cd Only four. _ _. A pah of an inevitable downsizing i Moscow a stores May now have Well stocked shelves when hot Long ago. Those shelves often were Bare. But if few can afford the products it does no to matter whether the merchandise arrived via free Market channels or not. Street crime a not a major problem when the communists were in charge a is becoming rampant. That was brought Home vividly when a member of the White House Advance team that visited Moscow last week to help prepare for Clinton strip was mugged at 2 . Just two blocks from the Western style hotel where the american delegation will stay. Clinton acknowledged the challenges he faces in Moscow in an interview this month with the associated press and other news services. Quot i think if i did no to go now. It would at least run some risk of weakening what has been a increasingly Strong partnership Between the United states and Russia to try to preserve democracy and to promote Reform within that country a he said. Clinton must walk a Tightrope. He must attired rus dramatize . Support for embattled russian president Boris n. Yeltsin. But he can to go overboard. Showing too much support could make Yeltsin appear to be a Pawn of the West playing into the hands of Yeltsin s Ultra nationalist rivals such As Vladimir v. A Mirinovsky. There Are  in the West that economic deprivation in Russia could feed National Smas it did in Germany in the aftermath of world War i a and sweep Yeltsin out of Power. For now Yeltsin is on top and russians Choice the leading reformist party remains a Large faction in the new parliament. But if the nationalists and the communists Ever get organized enough to form a coalition it could be big trouble for Yeltsin. Already both sides have called for support for russians ailing weapons Industry and for More arms sales abroad. The mess in Russia and the other former soviet republics a Clinton will Sec even harsher conditions when he visits Minsk in Belarus on Jan. 15 a is just another frustration for tic president As lie rounds out his first year in office. So the administration now is Busy retooling its Aid package in an Effort to respond to the changing circumstances. Congress passed a $1.6 billion instalment on Aid to Russia in 1994, a Strobe Talbott Clinton a special envoy on Russia until this weeks promotion to the no. 2 spot at the state department suggested the package would be Quot less Shock and More therapy for the russian  meanwhile both the United slates and Yeltsin have sought to put the Best face on the alarming results in russians first Ever free elections. Yeltsin told a news conference recently that he would press on with reforms and efforts to convert former defense production to civilian uses. A i Sec no other Way out a he said. C Tho associated press time to Blue Pencil some slips of the software each year at this time i like to cleanse my Calendar and my conscience by Messing up to the mistakes misjudgments and misstatements that snuck past my personal error Check software and into this column. My annual Media culpa rite is Good for the soul. My offences however were relatively modest. I was not the one for example who told president Clinton to just get the Issue of Gays in the military off the table and it would be Clear sailing. 1 was not the one who told Oregon sen. Bob Tackwood that he really ought to put All the Juicy stories in his diary where nobody would find them. Nevertheless there Are amends to be amended. First of All the Happy mistakes. Last summer when Joe Mcginniss dreadful psycho babbling Bio fiction of Ted Kennedy was thrust onto the bookshelves 1 predicted that it would sell like hot cakes. Of me of Little Faith. This Bombshell bombed. Reports Are that Simon and schuster had to eat over.200,000 unsold copies of the last brother. Alas they made up their loss wit Howard Sterns private parts. I offered another prediction about guns. I suggested that fighting the National Rifle association Wasny to political suicide anymore it might even be political salvation in Virginia and new Jersey elec a. Tons. My rumours of the death of Era Power were a bit premature. Both Mary sue Terry and Jim Fiona lost their gubernatorial races. But Jim Brady won in Congress. The Era took me to task for my math As Well As my opinions. I had written that there were 24,000 handgun slay Ellen Goodman ingsinl991. No no the members wrote. It was 24,000 handgun deaths a including suicides and accidents As Well As slayings. Thank you thank you for setting me straight. I feel Ever so much safer. Then there was Geoffrey Fieger a lawyer who oozes All the Charm of a pit Bull. He complains bitterly that among other things i called his client Jar. Jack Kevorkian an a a Obia triste when Vishe word for death doctor was a a Stegant note by falling u Vita Turbo obit artist he ended his Elious nut. I Eoff. I will tiling me a religious nut. I he will try self restraint. Puritanical or Pilgri Mati Cal in my thanksgiving column i said it was the puritans who landed at Fly Mouth Rock. A sorry mistake for a Massachusetts native. It was the pilgrims now on to the guardians of grammar and the word police. First 1 apologize to Paul Tsongas. I referred to him As Quot the former male  Well he is a former senator but despite my grammatical Exchange operation still a male i also referred to letters about Gays in the military As missiles coming in. Was i being a touch us defensive where Are you Freud when 1 slip i meant Quot missives a then there is the tale of Tail Hook. Since the Story broke i have been running the Gauntlet a of is it Gauntlet a of warring wordsmiths. Here Are the facts Quot Gantlett is a stretch of overlapping Railroad track through a narrow passage such As Over a Bridge. A a Gauntlet is a Glove of medieval origin. Out the military punishment in which a Man ran Between two lines of armed men a or a woman ran Between lines of grabbing men a is a Gauntlet or a Gauntlet. Take your Choice and spell it of i a a go. Finally i must admit Loavery Wordy mistake. Last year at just this time i confessed to a Gaff instead of a Gaffe. A Gaff is a Hook a Gaffe is a Blunder. 1 made a big one. Here s to a Gaffe free new year. Lets give 93 the Gaff. O a cd tar Boson Globo