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Show Sl)f Balt i'u kc ZTri bunt Thursday Morning, March section a 3d, 1978 .I y'v ' . . s IB Neulron Bomb Impasse Presents An Opportunity to Reconsider Although the controversial neutron bomb could be user! elsewhere it is seen primal ih as a ueapon for the defense of Western Europe against Soviet attack from the East. Putting aside the gossamer speculation that attends all discussion of possible nuclear warfare, a pat case can be made for the bomb as the answer to Western Europes special defense needs. It is designed to stop invading troops without destroying ities or populations near Ihe impact site The catch is that while the bomb is being fashioned with Western Europe mainh in mind. Western Europe is not so sure it wants the bomb. In any event, its leaders want the United States to go ahead and build the things. Later on the Europeans will decide whether the weapons wil be deployed over there. President Carter has taken the opposite approach. He would give the go ahead for neutron bomb production but be wants the people for whom it is being produced to ask for it first. The impasse has developed into a sort of macabre Alfonse and Gaston After you, my dear exchange: Alfonse, etc." All the jockeying to put the onus on the other side seems to reflect c acknowledgment of a greater though soit pedaled fact of the arms race. The neutron bomb, in Western Europe or anywhere else, may const i tute a military advantage for the West for a few years But the Soviets will soon counter with a neutron bomb of their own or an even more fearsome neutralizer When the escalation over is it wont matter whether the United States or its allies in Europe made the first move toward deployment of the neutron device. The scary fact then will be that afler billions spent on terrihle new weapons each side is less secure than it was. Small wonder then that neither President Carter nor his European counterparts wants to be tagged with initiating an ultimately futile contest that can only move nations closer to accepting the inevitability of nuclear confrontation. Rather than quibble over which the president side gives the should move in the opposite direction and put the neutron bomb project back in the box. Defending Western Europe with conventional forces leaves the allies at a disadvantage. But the neutron bomb cant buy sufficient security for a long enough time to balance off the greater danger inherent in its deployment. nation, high level conference isnt doing too well these days. Witness the recently ended Belgrade conference on security and cooperation in Europe. And before it. the several Law of the Sea Conferences or the great assemblies called to solve world food shortages. It would be going too far to conclude that such efforts are a complete waste of time. But it is difficult to cite many tangible accomplishments of these meetings. About the only concrete thing the Belgrade delegates did was agree to meet again in Madrid in 1980. But in view of the less than positive record of the various Law of the Sea Conferences, a second run on security and cooperation probably wont achieve any more than the first outing. As a fomm for sharing views the international conclaves are useful as pressure valves. But in todays politically fractured world the chance of attaining meaningful consensus on anything important is minimal. Since big problems are usually global in nature, people everywhere should have a voice in their solution. The sad fact is that there are so many voices promoting so many divergent positions that none has much chance of prevailing. Weak Mideast Medicine Israel can restore peace prospects with Egypt. But not by offering token war is what will redeem him as an Arab peace-make- Palestinians. r. The Arab govern- ments echo Palestinian refugee departicipation" According to a report from Tel mands. and will never cease giving but almost all could Aviv, Monday, the Israeli govern- them to lie put that on a persuaded ment offered a new formula for r if they thought the pre meeting Egypts demand that Pales(17 Iwtrders might be regained. tinian refugees he given rights injinv eventual The Arabs cling to United Nations Mideast peace plans. While Deputy Israeli Prime Minister Yigael Yadin Resolution 242. which states the was quoted as pronouncing this move necessity for Israel withdrawal from land taken in 19(17 counter-attackas a step, the essenby e, hack-burne- s. far-reachi- tial ohstaele is still being avoided Prime Minister Menachem Begin came away from his recent Washington visit with President Carter unappeased because the United States does not accept his assertion that Israel is entitled to hold whatever land it pleases in the Sinai, the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank of the Jordan River. And iis this point that has stalled direct Egyptian-Israel- i negotiations launched so hopefully late last year. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat talks about guarantees fur the Palestinians. but getting a commitment trom Tel Aviv on relinquishment of land occupied hv in the I!tb7 Anne The U.S. supports that resolution. In its Mideast mediating, the Carter administration has suggested Israel accept the withdrawal in principle, as a basis for further negotiations. The Begin government is avoiding that harness. So, peace talks remain stuck in place. Israels latest pursuit of Palestiin Lebanon has com- nian guerrillas plicated the Mideast's entire peace packaging process. Still, contacts between Israel and Egypt remain open and offer the best chances for successful negotiations. Only, however. if Israels new 'formulas" give Cairo the feeling as well as appearance of lull memory J&ir IW! rMnr ton I have hesitated to become involved because presumably wiser heads have been on the job. They do not. however, seem to be getting down to the nitty, although the gritty has surfaced now and anon. To stabilize something, you need something stahle in place. Permanent like In perpetuity, even. So whit we do is, vve huy the Suez Canal and move in. We build neat little frame houses and put in supermarkets and movies and high schools and put stahle American civilians to woik there whom we can depend on to bp stable and because their every need w ill lx paid for by thp U S Government, including cutting the grass. Larger Model Canal Thus we have this strip with the canal running down the middle of it and we call it the Canal Zone." A lot of heat will be lifted from Congress because some Americans are just dead set on owning a canal. It will he easier to give away, or trade in, the American Canal in Panama if we have just bought a larger model canal which can be called the American Canal in Egypt. For Egypt's part. President Sadat should be happy to sell us his canal because his whole country is flat broke, has had a hard time keeping debris out of the channel, and somebody just might take it away from him anyway. He will also sleep holier if he knows that there is another presence of some heft between him and the Sinai Mr. Begin of Israel might feel the same, not so much that he stays awake nights worrying about an invasion from the west, hut because it is always mep to have a big cop in the neighborhood The trouble started, of course, soon aftei Carte'1 was elected, when Vice President Mondale was sent to Germany to suggest strongly that Germany cancel a $1 billion agreement to supply Brazil with a nuclear fuel recycling plant Didn't Tell Brazil Washington did not bother to inform Brazil of this precipitous action, even though the agreement already had been signed with U S approval and an accord had been reached with the International Atomic Energy Agency to provide strict safeguards. Insult then was added to injury when Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who knew Brazil barely at all. went to Brasilia to pressure the Brazilians to backoff the deal. Not surprisingly, they refused. It seemed to the Brazilians that the spirit ol the memo of understanding signed with Henry Kissinger, who saw and publicly praised the powerful Brazilian dictatorship as the leader of ihe hemisphere, was finished So the background for the Carter trip here had none of the enthusiasm and sense of common purpose that so pleasantly infec'id the Venezuelan stop earlier in the week Indeed, rather it was based on an attempt to temper the basic disdain and dislike for the military government that took power 11 years ago this week n Copy right Murv MeGron Solons Gearing to Investigate Carters Director of ACTION Washington Star Syndicate Carter rightly could hardly show a gieat deal of affection or admiration (or Btazdian President Ernesto Geisel's reeent attempts to state or ahout turn the country into a his ideas on relative democracy Yet. still, at the heart of the matter is tin basically unanswerable question of nuclear proliferation. Indeed, before the trip started Carter's closest aides were privately stressing their concern about it as the real question them in Brazil. On the one hand, nuclear proliferation is a deadly serious problem On the other hand they are asking a country like Brazil to commit a certain antrum! of economic and maybe cu n political self destruction by limiting its growth seriously rather than turning from ml to nuclear power Brazil is intent upon becoming a great power and, with its authoritarian government ."d its conservative economic policies, it is well on the And one-part- way No. 2 Food Set Up School For our part, continuing hopes tor peace in the Midpast could be bolstered a sort of military school for as we learned how in Panama by setting up nearby nations and teaching everhody the latest wavs to wage war to an extent that they then decide to he nice and not fight More imjxirtant to our ow n defense, an air hasp set up in the zone would allow all our Air Force mechanics 1o get some hands-oexperience in working on all the American fighters we have sold to Israel and Egypt As part of the maintenance deal, maybe we could set up a lease hack arrangement in case we art- invaded by somebody Panama, maybe. Vole y Exporter is the second biggest exporter of torn) in tin world, having replaced Canada Ils growth rate lies between 8 and 10 percent II is the leading rxjxirter of iron ore and coffee in the world and ils manufactures are growing by ieaps and Ixiimds Its GNP. now $120 billion, is exported to grew to $215 billion hv the year 2ooo But very simply, the problem is energv Brazil's economy trembled and catapulted alter the 1075 Ixiycott. nearly all ol its oil comes from overseas sources With mielent energy, it could lx1 free of its $5 billion yeatlv oil hill and become self sufficient in energy the year 2000 is Brazil's anger and indignation, then-lorthe human rights issue where only partly they richly deserve criticism, or over Washing ton's arrogance toward them whi h Brazil as a country certainly does not deserve It is also over the implication that they would not respect international law And. beyond that, it is to a great extent a matter of economic progress or stagnation Thus it is a question for which President Carter will have to come up with some very profound answers For in this post ml Ixiycott. post coal strike era. in a country which cannot itself come to the simplest grips with even a conservation energy policy the question ol mu Ic.ir power is one we more and more are going in hav e to start facing for ourselv e-- . Copy right - Yj insults over Brazil cavalier disregard for human rights. It is some thing even more serious than that. It is at heart the ques tion of what, in the face of ruinous oil prices and the prospect of depression. the United States could, would or should do to block another nations attempt to turn to nuclear power to keep its economic ship running. It is particularly troubling because there is always the question of whether the United States itself might not need to eventually turn In nuclear power U S. Bv Jim Dance Rtdrier Newspapers nngjvt say I havp been derelict in my insnuna.nce and then vri might wonder what in Sam Hill you are talking about. 1 wj tel you You are talking about my failure to utilize my insight and come up with a solution that will stabilize the Middle East and. if not exactly make brothers of all men, at least keep them apart s o'-e- -- . Knight- Lns Angleles Times Syndicate The problem behind CARACAS, Venezuela Jimmy Carter's visit to Brazil Wednesday and Thursday is not just a sad string of irksome It In Stability for Middle East ? Lets Buy the Suez Canal Tough Task In Brazil Visit One-Part- I (ifur Carters Facing go-ahea- Much Talk, Lillie Action As an instrument for solving international problems, the multi- "(dil llidl oul! Now Mm r rr;i WASHINGTON Sam Brown, of all ppoplp. is about to he investigated by Congress The young antiwar leader, who a year ago was being hailed as one in making grants to old friends, o ov erpaying employees, of hiring too many eonsuJiants and ol being careless about conflict of interest .After a hearing last month. Brown provided Michel with 800 pages of explanation It new questions" for Michel only-raise- Carter's most imaginative appointees, of Diligently Inform Critics One of Brown's problems, plainly, is a Fifth Column within ihe agency Some of the 153 upper level Republican holdovers, who were cemented into their jobs hy Richard N'ixon, and share his hostility to its mission, are notably diligent about informing Capitol Hill critics and the press about Ihe minutiae of Brown's has run afoul of Rep Robert M ichol of Illinois, the conservative Repule liean whip, who lines not care at all for the way Brown is miming AC- TION t he volunteer agency which oversees the Peace Corps and , administration VISTA Michel and Rep Dan F lood. D Pa., chairman of a House appropriations subcommittee, who himself tinder intensive investigation for a variety of charges relating to influence-peddlinand political payoffs, joined in requesting Hep George Mahon, who runs the lull Appropriations Committee, to permit the prolx' Mahon has given the green light. Mn i told Brown m a letter that he is going alxoit it reluctantly," hut his antipathy to is Brown's politics seemsto gix's back I airly last SeptcmlxT when Brown m company with other peace activists, paid a welcoming call on the first Vietnamese delegation to the United Nations, and Michel criticized him in a Mouse speech Brown has done nothing since to redeem himsell in Michel's eyes He campaigned for a candidate for Ihe Calilnrnia Assembly He a ban on and then rescinded announced VISTA conferences in states which failed to lias, the ERA He declared in a Penthouse interview that he intends to lx It magazine politically active that Brovvn, who What Mu hel really minds eniovs Ihe favor of Presid"iit Carter, might Fie trying to re radicalize VISTA by organizing thp xxir lo demand their l ights When VISTA wa the Office of Fononu Opportunity, its volunteers were often in the thick of the urban riots They said they were calming things, hut some mayors thought differently Richard Nixon tried to wreck the agency by putting hati hetman Howard Phillips m charge Later, it was partly folded into ACTION, in the hope it would disappear altogether President Ford, in its last budget gav e it ern funds ( Mil hel accuses Brown being bxi generou. i We have lo keep one eye cocked to the rear at all times." says Brown's deputy Don Green. still enjoys ihe favor of President who granted him a large increase in the VISTA budget. In another, even more timely pat on the hack, he has awarded Brown, in thp new urban policy program. $40 million for two new ACTION projects Brown C arter, Another of Michel s concerns was a rumor that several VISTA volunteers arrested in antinuclear demonstrations at Seatirook, N H . had had their legal fees paid hy the agency. Not so Brown told him The volunteers did not even use p annual leave, since they were released Ihe dav before it ran out Want to Scare President' It's all very petty and politically motivated." Brown says of the investigation We had a substantial increase in VISTA They want to scare the president from going anv further " Obviously Michel and ACTION s enemies would like the agency to return to the qujicr. more docile N'ixon-Forperiod, when the volunteers acted as librarians and drivers, and more or less pitched in wherever needed, and functioned, by Brown's lights, as scab labor. Brown's idea is lhal VISTAS do not give out books or drive cars. They help citizens to acquire library servtcp and they organize ear . jvools Thrv don't understand that they organize, for political change but lor institutional change," says Green Brown hopes the inquiry will broaden to an investigation of previous malevolent personnel practices That way. Congress may understand how hard it - for him to fight jmvprly when he has lo spend so much time fighting backbiters not c- 'Copv right |
