European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 01, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday december 1 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 times Stephens. Rosenfeld from Boris Yeltsin has come Arather Calm reaction to the Victory of the conservatives in the american elections. A certain toughening in Ameri can foreign policy and military posture can be expected the russian president says. As for the policy implications he thinks Moscow will have to reach out tothe gop so As to level out our relations with Washington. A similar sign of More or less measured concern has come from other International quarters. There appreciation that american foreign policy is the product of several hands Only one belong ing to the next House speaker Newt Gingrich. Yeltsin know something about parliamentary Chal Lenges to presidential policy. He is smart not to overreact to a development in Washington that can Only complicate his Effort to tame conservatives and nationalists in his own opposition. Perhaps no area of american foreign policy has enjoyed More consensus and continuity inthe Bush Clinton years than matters involving Russia. Bet on Boris that has been the policy. But now some consider Able part not All of the part con trolling Congress is not so ready to bet on Boris. Clinton has a problem. So does Yeltsin. V to to see the specific shape it May take you can read the foreign policy chapter of the Gingrich sponsored House Republican Credo contract with America. A National Security restoration act which is meant to be submitted to an Early vote in the new Congress would re strict american participation in . Peacekeeping Rem i orate a full fledged Continental anti missile defense accelerate the expansion of nato an Zero in somehow on a defense funding All of these issues Bear More or less directly on the interests of Russia and Many other countries. T the Clinton policy has not been so successful and effective As to admit of no Republican correction. On almost All Puthe items above that the gop highlights j the administration had already Bernback Ingoff shuffling to the right and reducing the political exposure. Its feeling impalpable that it is unfair to be further crowded just As it was getting its act to Gether. But it is not unfair it is merely uncomfortable. The administration s of a missteps in foreign policy contributed to the Overall vulnerability that the republicans cashed in on on nov 8. That leaves everyone having Todeal with the republicans new hard Edge. It is of the old fashioned sort Bear ing on Power for instance the new age question that dominated Clinton s Asi Trade trip whether the human rights component of american policy is in the right balance with the commercial component is not a Gingrich priority. The republicans implicit premise is that notwithstanding America s emergence from the cold War As the one world class great Power its Security is not ensured but needs to be substantially bolstered. Their further implication is that Russia has no conclusively turned the communist Corner but retains a capacity for menace meanwhile the gop pains to protect the United states from suffering incursions upon its sovereignty or it Freedom of movement by International bodies such As the United nations. All of. These premises Are of course open to Challenge. The Reading of Ameri can insecurity is wilfully lopsided in it emphasis on strictly military threats and its neglect of demonstrably live threats rid burdens arising from ethnic rivalries global poverty population drugs migrations and so Forth. The scarcely concealed fear of now broken and foundering Russia s hos tile rebirth hence the Call for a big anti missile shield is a parody of the hard headed thinking one has a right to ask of defense conservatives. The hostility toward the a rioted nations and toward cooperative action in general ignores the reality of the Ameri can veto. It also evades the question of who else besides the United nations ingoing to Deal with the considerable part of global disorder that is bound to be left Over after the United states takes care of the part of its special concern. At its Best the evolving policy of Bush and Clinton who deserve to be paired As foreign policy realists and pragmatists represents an attempt to adapt to fluid late 20th Century Gingrich policy if that s what it is is different. It looks backward nostalgically toward a hard and in some ways heroic but also a simpler single threat time that in fact has Given Way to the less Apoc Ilyup tic and More democratic but More disorderly and More unstable world that we actually live in. The Gingrich republicans need to catch up. = c Wash Brigton Post in commission crimes How deep is America s fear of Black men Dee enough so that whenever a crime victim reports that a Black Man did it most people believe the charge with out a moment s hesitation last month Susan Smith said a Black Man kidnapped her children when he stole her car just outside Union . She said the two boys 3 years Oil and 14 months were. Strapped into the Back seat when this Black Man hijacked the car and drove off. People believed her. The nation literally watched and grieved As the 23-year-old Mother went on television weeping and begged the Black Man who she said was in his 20s or 30s, to give Back her children. As we now know there was no Black Man. Susan Smith confessed to killing her children herself by put Ting the car in gear and rolling it into a local Lake. Wet May never learn the truth buried inside Susan Smith As to Why she murdered her sons but i think we can safely say that she seemed sane enough when she fabricated her tory and picked the right coir dred Scapegoat. She knew that people Are always ready to believe a Black Man did it. They were ready in Boston five years ago when Charles Stuart told police that a Black Man had. Wounded him and shot his pregnant wife to death. The police rounded up Black suspects made sweeps through minority neighbourhoods and conducted body searches on Busy Boston streets. One Black Man Willie Bennett a arrested and charged in the killing. Two month later the Story fell apart. Stuart s brother finally told police that Charles him self had killed his wife and self inflicted his own superficial gunshot wound. Before Are Contd be charged Charles Stuart jumped to his death of a Boston Bridge in january 1990.-,.-. These Are the National headline cases. Local concoctions happen All the time and Only the people in those localities Ever hear of therm in the new York area not Long ago Mary Rose Posner told police that she and her year-old daughter had been terrorized by a thin Black Man in his late 20s at an automatic Bank Teller machine. She said he forced her to withdraw Money and give it to him before driving off in a Silver Toyota. Again there was no Black Man or any Silver Toyota and again until Maryrose Posner confessed that she made the whole thing up everyone believed her. ".,-Many. Americans a their fear of Black men is based on statistics and contend that they Are therefore not guilty of scapegoating or negative stereotyping. The statistics they talk about Are the ones that show Black men to be responsible for a disproportionate number of the nation s violent crimes. Statistics Are wonderful toys in the hands of the simple minded because like silly Putty they can be folded into any shape without add ing a single other ingredient. This is not to deny that a Large amount of violent crime is indeed committed by Blacks. But i cannot see it As any kind of excuse for thinking of virtually All violent crime As Black caused. The official statistics As compiled by the Fri say that 45 percent of violent crimes Are committed by Blacks who make up 12 percent of the Popula Tion. Whites who Are 80 percent of the population com Mit the majority of these crimes54 percent. So if 54 percent of these acts Are carried out by Whites and Jesser amount by Blades 45 percent Why then is the Sydney h. Schanberg White population so red hot trained and ready to believe treat a Black Man did them All All was 640,512 violent crimes in 1992, according to the Fri report on my committed 343,338 of them Blacks 287,122r the other 10,052 were committed by asians or american Indi ans without getting into any discussion of the effects of slavery poverty and discrimination on the Black populations my arithmetic says that on the raw numbers alone Whites Are ahead of Blacks every year by More than 50,000_ violent crimes. " at this very moment the message of fear is being sold coast to coast by politicians who la do anything to get a Job on the Public payroll. Turn on your television and you will get some Yahoo telling Yon that the death penalty will make your life better an that s Why you should vote for him. Most of these yahoos know that you will read their code words correctly. When they say death Penally they mean for Blacks the people you Are supposed to Union new Day reporter Michele Parette Sketl a local Black Man about Susan Smith s lie. The Man did not want his name used. But he said i heard one White Guy on wednesday say get that Nigger and skin him it Hurt but it just shows their the next majority Yhip Newt Gingrich Saida he campaigned that the importance of the Susan Smith Story was that it"viv1dly" reminds every american How sick the society is getting and How much we have to have change and the Only Way to get change is Tovote Republican he did t say anything about changing White people s fixed images of Black people. We Jan you voted perhaps you gave some thought toot voting in favor of fear and scapegoating and All those other grand traditions. C now Day
