| OCR Text |
Show TheSalt Lake Tribune OPINION Sunday, December5,1999 10 Years After the Cold War’s End:Is It Timeto Isolate Russia Again? When the grandiose socioeconomic experiment, masterminded by Vladimir Lenin and Co. at the dawn ofthe century, finally ran out of steam about ten years ago, there were plenty of proud noises heard fromthe top Russian reformers. “Just look at us,” they weretelling the considerate Western audience. “We are turning a communist regime into a market democracy! Nobody in the worldhas donethat before! Generations to comewill learn from our historic ex- perience! Aren’t we brave? Aren't we cool? Now help us — and quick!” With the notable exception of Boris Yeltsin — or whateveris left there of the fearless antiestablishment rebel of the 1980s — mostof those reformers are long gonenow, and noonerepeats the mantra about “being the first ones” anymore, which is good. It didn’t make muchsense in thefirst place. Nobodyis going to learn from the Russian experience, simply because no one hopefully will need to. East GermanyandSocialist Romania onlyexisted becauseof the Soviet Union, and there is no chance they are coming backafter the U.S.S.R. fell apart. Asfar as the Westernaid is concerned, it turned out to be much smaller and came muchlater than reformers like Yeee or Alexander Shokhin had RUSSIAN ViEW legitimate concerns — wereentirelyig nored in both cases. Then, came the noisy but short-lived Russian money- laundering “scandal” involving the Bankof NewYorkthat led nowhere. Then, the well-orchestrated “condem: To make sure, westill are talkingbillions of dollars here — lot of moneyfor you or me,andit did savelives, and the Russians will never forget that generosity. But for a 150-million person, tentime-zone-widegiant of a country, which nation” of Russian brutality in Chech- nya. The latter one could have been style, unbending, determined ward Chechnya andability tothe West. Unbelievableasit appeared just a few months ago, Putin’s chances to become the next Russian president next summerlook quite good. Chechen war might be Russia’s last resort, something it was forced to accept, much more convincing if during the first, much more cruel, bloody and even if Americansfind that hard to be- — with the help of the Western darling senseless Chechenwar in 1994-96, Presi- in foreign debt, that was a tiny drop ina dent Clinton didn’t approvingly compare the deadly Moscow campaign with this country’s Civil War. comeoutof that for anybody, in Russia or beyond. Yet sofar the West has done everything to make sure Putin has enough by the endofthe 1980s had accumulated Mikhail Gorbachev — about$100 billion big, bottomless bucket. MICHAEL NAKORYAKOV If there is one lesson in dealing with the WestRussia haslearned, it is simple: You guys are on your own. Long-term, high-interest loans, like the ones from the International Mone- tary Fund and World Bank, are different matter, of course. No question, Russia mayandwill use the cash. But those loans have nothing to do with charity and the holiday spirit of giving — they are businesstransactions thatare just as important to the West as they are to Russia. And, contrary to the popular percep- tion, if tomorrow the West says to Moscow: “That's it, there will be no more loans — ever, we're breaking up,” Russia In two weeks, on Dec.19, Russianswill won't fall apart. It actually might wind up better off — if there are no relations with the West, there also will be no need to spend a good half of the modest Rus- sian GNP onthe interest payments. Those who find that a good solution, andthereare such peopleon both sides of the now-defunct Iron Curtain, must be celebrating these days. Sad as it may sound, the events of the last few years have been steadily movingir the direction the Buchanans and Zhirinovskys of the world alwayspreferred. NATO's eastwardexpansion,followed by the Kosovo campaign, was bad enough for Russia, whose interests — and goto thepolls to elect a new parliament. Just like in the United States, there has been no shortage of mud-throwing among the candidates, and easily-bribed news media makethepicture even more convoluted. But one thing seems clear: The support of the prime minister, the ex-KGB operative Vladimir Putin has becomethe key to success of any party or movement that try to get their representatives into thelegislature. Putin, who looks like a beardless clone of the KGB founder Felix Dzerzhinsky, is widely popular in Russia, primarily thanks to his no-nonsense lieve. But people like Putin have ruled Russia before, and nothing good has support. Turning Russia into some sort of international pariah like South Africa of the past simply should not be an option, especially now, when a move like that from the West may be welcomedby a largeportion of Russians. Andif arguments about the common good and peace on Earth don’t sound convincing anymore, maybe the $200bil lion Westernlenders are going to lose in never-paid-back Moscowdebt would? Michael Nakoryakov is an editor at the Tribune's World News Desk. Until 1991, he was a journalist in Russia. Nakoryakov welcomese-mail at michaelun@sitrib.com Court Action — as It Should — Vindicates Gay/Straight Alliance It also is exciting to know that we now have state regulation prohibiting school officials from applying a double standard to BY KAY KOSOW FOX state regulation that prohibits all Like my daughter Ivy, I was appalled whenI heard three and one-half years ago that the Salt ‘Lake City Board of Education nating against students on the banned 46 student clubs from campus rather than allow stu-dents worried about anti-gay ha‘rassment at East High Schoolto forma “Gay/StraightAlliance.” So I supported Ivy and her classmates in their effort to go to court and make thingsright. It asn’t been easy. This entire saga shastested my patience, as well as my faith in school officials, ‘elected leaders,and eventhe rule oflawitself. Recently, in order to ‘persuade a federal judge thatit will nolongercensor gay-positive ‘points of view, the schooldistrict at the eleventh hourproclaimed that Sait Lake schools will allow students to talk about lesbian and ‘gay concerns in the remaining, curricularclubs. Thedistrict also pointed to a recently adopted Utah educators from discrimi- basis ofsexual orientation. Based on these assurances that lesbian and gay students and their supporters will not be censored at East High School, the judge said he would dismissthe lawsuit. discrimination at such an early age and grow up sofast. But Ivy’s instincts have been right all along, as they were when she and other students became concerned that school officials were attempting to silence any discussion of gay issues in the remaining student clubs. For example, students in an East High history At first, my heart sank. But not Ivy's. She was buoyed bythe dis- club were advised not to show a end discrimination. She wisely documentary film that addressed lesbian and gay history. A cre- trict’s new-found commitmentto reminded methat thedistrict's promiseno longer to censor gay- positive views indeed was a victory. And she was right: Some- times, victories do come disguised as defeats. Ivy graduates in June. I wish her high school years had been moretypi- cal — thatit had not been neces- sary for her to be at the center of this controversy, with all the pressures of a lawsuit and the media. I wish the school board’s short-sighted forced her actions to hadn't confront ative writing club student was discouraged from publishing a story about a boy coming| toterms with being gay. A marriage and dating panel sponsored by the Future Homemakers of America wasbarred from includingreference to gay relationships, and a Debate Club discussion about gay couples and marriage was quashed. In the wakeof these and similar incidents, students under- standably feared they would be punished for voicing their opinions. Sadly, as the lawsuit progressed, this fear was confirmed by school board members. and administrators, including the district's superintendent, whoinitially stated underoath in the case that they believed discussion of gay-related issues at schoolwasforbidden, period. classmates know that there is a nothing about lesbian and gay young people whoroutinely are clubs — a ban they imposed in 1996 in order to block the Gay/ It’s bad enoughwhenadults do harassed. But when teachers and administrators are the ones standingin the way of youth who wantto help, who wantto address fears and isolation as well as encourage understanding between gay and non-gaystudents, school officials might as well be sanctioning the abuseitself. Those who seem more con. cerned with squelching gaysupportive views than with teaching our youngsters to respect each other should take a lesson from the example set by students themselves. Ivy and her need for support against anti-gay hostility and harassment. That’s why they wanted their club in the first place, and why they decided to challenge schoolofficials try- ing toshut them down. Even with the district's current promises, Salt Lake City schools retain their ban on all non-curricular Straight Alliance, and which continues to deny important opportunities for all students. But at least Ivy and her classmates now have the District’s promise that it will not punish those who wish to talk about gay concerns in the remaining, course-related clubs. The District appears to be backing that up with a recent lesbian and gay students and their supporters who act in reliance on the District's promise that students will no longer have gay-positive viewpoints censored within existing clubs. Moreover, l a ot of people have been educated aboutthese issues along the way Throughall these developments, Ivy and her classmates ultimately have achieved many of the im- portant goals that led them toact. I am so proud ofall that they accomplished, and of their courage and integrity in speaking out against injustice. I value their compassion, strength and perseverance. And I draw inspiration from them, knowing their legacy will be better treatment of the lesbian and gay young people at East High. I know that there's a lesson here for everyone. memoit distributed to all staff reminding them about students’ free speech rights and indicating that additional guidance and training on theseissues arebeing prepared. Kay KosowFox is the mother of Ivy Fox, a student who sued the Board of Education of Salt Lake School District in federal district court over school club policies. Mapnidelednenelnea aré a serious concérn: All together, 134 00 Vieirenlegsatisoy age 12-are-at poMeolsaUlae|excurontaleaanges Utah ranks 38th in the nation in the percentage of low income students who eat School Breakfast in Utah Schools. This holiday season, you can help us provide food for those children and their families in need by making a donation to the Utah Food Bank. > UTAH Foop BANK. 1025 South 700 West Salt Lake City. Utah, 8410 |
