Tuesday, September 17, 1985
Page 2
Daily Nebraskan
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China in major power shakeup
PEKING (AP) - Chinese leader
Deng Xiaoping swept 131 senior Com
munist Party officials from power Mon
day to make way for younger men and
ensure the success of his economic and
politic.U reforms.
He also ended the life-tenure system
that prompted power struggles between
stubborn, elderly leaders which have
plagued China since the communists
took power in 1949. Deng himself was a
victim when Chairman Mao Tse-tung
dismissed him as a "capitalist roader"
during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolutioa
Official announcements said all 131
officials submitted voluntary resigna
tions, including 64 full and alternate
members of the powerful 344-delegate
Central Committee. Among those were
10 of the 24 Politburo members.
The resignations came at the fourth
full session of the 12th Central Com
mittee in Peking. Deng and his pro
teges, party chief Hu Yaobang and
Premier Zhao Ziyang, had said earlier
that major personnel changes would be
made at a series of party meetings this
month.
Deng himself is 81, but shows no
sign of fatigue. He is the nation's para
mount leader, head of the Central
Advisory Commission and Central Mil
itary Commission.
Two-thirds of the evening television
news was devoted to the shakeup, list
ing those resigning and showing them
raising hands in a unanimous decision
to retire.
Diplomats called it one of the bold
est moves by Deng, who has reversed
the radical policies of his predecessors
and created unprecedented stability
since emerging as top leader in 1978.
"This is a historic point in Commu
nist Party history," said one Western
analyst, who spoke on condition of
anonymity. "If Deng succeeds, it will
be a transition that does not involve a
coffin or a bullet or a palace coup."
Before Monday's resignations, the
average age of Politburo members was
74. Party chairman Hu Yaobang, 69,
once said "senility is a problem" in the
hierarchy.
Mr. President, the hotline is up...'
.&, Soviet leaders keep in touch via satellite
By Saul Pett
(AP) They arm against each
other, they threaten and denounce"
each other, they spy, issue ultimatums,
draw lines and thoroughly distrust
each other. But they stay in touch.
Every hour of every day, whether
Armageddon looms or recedes, they
communicate by satellites 600 miles
and 22,500 miles above the earth.
Washington to Moscow:
"Interference by casual water, ground
repair or a hole, cast or runway made by
a burrowing animal, a reptile or a bird
occurs when a ball lies in or touches
any of these conditions or when the
condition interfers with the player's
stance...A ball is 'lost if (a) it is not
found or. . . "
While this may sound like a celestial
game of trivia, it is part of a serious
business. Messages like these belong
to a varied repertory of texts used to
test the "hot line," the direct, secret
form of communication by which the
leaders of the United States and the
Soviet Union hope to avoid uninten
tional war while not foreswearing
intentional war.
It is one of several ways the two
superpowers have agreed to try to pre
vent war by accident, mistake or mis
understanding. The hot line is intended to keep an
avenue open by which opposing leaders
can reach each other quickly and pri
vately, away from public scrutiny and
pressure, to control events that might
otherwise make a mushroom cloud out
of a molehill.
To make sure the line is working, the
Pentagon sends a test message every
even hour on the hour. Every odd hour
on the hour, the Soviets send one back.
Each side transmits in code and sup
plies the other with the decoding
formula.
While they rarely run out of things to
say about each other, they do face a
problem in what to say to each other,
every hour of every day. By agreement,
the test messages carefully avoid any
thing political or controversial.
And so the Pentagon has sent the
Kremlin the rules of golf, which the
Russians do not play, making that a
sure test of their translators as well as
the hot line.
Washington has discoursed on the
glories of chili, which the Russians
don't eat, and Moscow has enriched us
with an encyclopedic view of Russian
coiffures of the 17th century.
The hot line is not what many people
think it is: a wire connecting two red
telephones in the White House and the
Kremlin. While it is a direct and private
link between leaders, it is designed to
exchange printed, not spoken mes
sages. In setting up the system 22 years
ago, both governments agreed it would
be less than prudent if the leaders
actually talked to each other in time of
crisis. Conversational translation risks
error and a man's voice, it was felt,
could be too easily misinterpreted.
Printed exchanges, they agreed, per-
The hot line is intend
ed to keep an avenue
open by which op
posing leaders can
reach each other...
to control events
that might otherwise
make a mushroom
cloud out of a molehill.
mit more time to think and consult for
a more reasoned response.
While it is tested 24 times a day,
every day, the hot line actually has
been used sparingly in its 22 years.
Official secrecy cloaks the full count
but several former presidents have
revealed four gathering crises in which
it was used to brake the wild spin of
events.
"Mr. President, the hot line is up."
Lyndon Johnson was the first presi
dent to hear that and he heard it in his
bedroom in the White House on June 5,
1967, the start of the Six-Day War. Pre
mier Kosygin was on the line.
In 1979, Jimmy Carter took a turn.
He used the hot line to warn Brezhnev
that he would "jeopardize" U.S.-Soviet
relations "throughout the world" unless
he pulled back from Afghanistan.
Brezhnev said Soviet troops would be
withdrawn as soon as they were no
longer "needed," an idea whose time
has not yet come, six years later.
Like his predecessors, President
Reagan may not reveal his use of the
private line to the Kremlin until he
writes his memoirs. As of now, his
White House will not discuss it. But
according to one unconfirmed report,
the Soviets activated it in 1983 to urge
the United States to confine its retalia
tory air attacks in Lebanon to Lebanon.
The hot line symbolizes a different
world. Here, leaders frequently reverse
Teddy Roosevelt's injunction about the
conduct of foreign affairs; they speak
loudly but carry a small stick. They
bargain on tip-toe. It was that way in
the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, which
begat the hot line.
In 1978, the introduction of satellite
communications made the system less
vulnerable to accident or sabotage.
Since then, the hot line has consisted
of two satellite circuits and the origi
nal system, all used in the same tests
and messages between leaders.
It works this way: A message from
the president goes from the White
House by special electronic transmis
sion, secure phone or by hand to a long
narrow room at the hushed and myste
rious National Military Command Cen
ter in the Pentagon.
There, the officer in charge imme
diately orders the door locked and
phones the White House to validate the
message. Validated, it is then punched
into a small brown machine which
simultaneously encodes it. It is then
transmitted to two earth stations in
Maryland and West Virginia and from
there up to an American and Soviet
satellite high above the equator, down
to two Soviet earth stations in Moscow
and Lvov and finally to the Kremlin.
There a tape supplied by the Pentagon
is run through a machine to decode the
incoming message from the president.
In their turn, the Soviets reverse the
process to transmit to Washington.
The newest improvement in the hot
line, scheduled to begin later this fall,
is the use of facsimile transmission.
This is expected to triple the speed of
messages and make possible the
exchange of pictures, maps and charts
should one side want to warn the other
of an errant plane or submarine.
Thus, the strange, split-level Cold
War goes on. Each side threatens and
distrusts the other . but each seeks
some kind of reassurance from the
other as well.
N WS SH SI liQ SS A rounduP 01 tne dav's happenings
Representatives of El Salvador's government
and leftist guerrillas were preparing Monday to negotiate
in Mexico for the release of President Jose Napoleon
Duarte's kidnapped daughter, Ines. Members of the Fara
bundo Marti National Liberation Front claimed responsi
bility for the abduction last Tuesday.
Augusto Pinochet's military government extended
the state of emergency in force throughout Chile and
renewed restrictions on press coverage of politics and
anti-government violence. A state of emergency has been
in force in Chile almost continuously since the 1973
military coup.
The left-wing People's Mujahedin organization of
Iran published a list of names of 12,028 people it said have
been executed in Iran since June 1981. Mujahedin leader
Massoud Rajavi sent the new list to the United Nations
asking that it use all means to end what Rajavi called the
continuing execution and tortue of political prisoners.
President Reagan will have a televised White
House news conference at 7 (CDT) tonight, his first formal
meeting with reporters since his colon cancer surgery July
13.
Some men don face masks and shoulder pads to
play their sport. Jim Ayotte of Springfield, Mass., had to
put on a skirt. "That was the hardest thing," said Ayotte, a
Springfield College freshman who played field hockey on
the winning East team in the national Sports Festival this
summer and has his eye on a berth on the men's U.S.
Olympic team. "Thank God, it was only for one year. My
senior year they changed the school uniform to shorts."
In other countries field hockey is a male game. Here it
is primarily played by women.
3r ' - "
U.S. mnjor debtor as deficit hits high
lie nation's troadest 1 . ue tt foreign trade
re:" --red a nesr-rccarJ tn:d tuuon k..c;t 1 .rr.i trough June,
c-V:-;! 'tl ctthscctryr-novl ?cc.fi?ar' it! ' ;f rtrefirsttlrae
Li 71 j : "s, t'is gevemmert r .7 cried Mr ,?v. f
yQ rjepricrULlJUt' .".cithr ?(... ".t account was
49rk'l:-:Jt!.:nU3r3.3i:r::--ii. - -.2:. :ci in the first
Crccrv ;:3c:t..sy::r.T;.;cv:r::.t:cc:vrt: tcr.lytradein
Kterd. r.ie bat also in s rvicC, rc .Hy lau: (r : 1 1 ;i.;rn.
ir.ve.st-.:nts.theJG2.1U";cnb(!:H;;tshr3i;. ' "yr the first six
mzrXU cf the year wiped that sai cat.
Co:. v,:ce Secretary fclilcolfa I IesaJ H J :,o t; -t it
the c.vjitry hid became a r.U metier vit econc. " 1 con 1 ncl
v;hca ta country crossed ever. Uer, rs rcrwt f-.: ' 1 f:rl:
appeared
-pinpoint
icr conflr-
ftinpa 1Q1 A
Tl.it i r.s the United Siatca new 0 -.a fat i ti r.c. 2 t!.an they owe
Britain expels six more Soviets .
LONDON Prima Minister rirrtt Thatcher lived up to her "Iron
Laiy" irasjre i!ar.d..y by expelling six more Soviets en fry charges and
r: ta- SI the l:1:t hicLci cut tir.ee a KC ctaiicn c:.i:fir, London
ilitcc z i.
Tie ! " :i expulsions r:i::J ths si:Ucs in a tic; f.rt-.t expulsion war
tctv-'cn V 2 two r:t:::-3 vJich I:: n v.hcn D.itaia cp'cd 25 Soviets
last Ti.j;..J.y ar.J . c-.v v.l.ea Iloaec-, vdz',J: 1 iy trlW: the same
rum, t it EritLh .!e::.at3 1-rJ: aaaracn cr.ij. r.-:!:;'.j Saturday.
Xk:l cfths nswEritirh Svtlon waa conveyed to S.uil tl -rga d'affaires
lev IV : cno just minutes jlIsi Prir.e f IlrJstcr I Utiin t batcher left for
al.'K!.. 't tcur. - .
PcrcMnewss tcld tfcst E'rh&ln rer-Jtd Sztvsi?$ expsion of British,
sL?tf'.',i3 is "an urcrrcr.tcd vIctir.;i:-Uo.n cf k,r.Tx:l p-aIe."
Lincoln unemployment dips in August
LINCOLN Unemployment rates for Nebra.' its two largest cities
and r.cn-metrc?o!itan Nebraska dropped sillily drirj August in a
typical seasonal change, but the numbers of unemployed people showed,
greater growth than the numbers ef those with jots for the past 1 2 months.
The biggest year-to-year contrast in monthly estimates from the state
Department cf Labor showed up Monday in the non-metropolitan statis
tics, Nebraska outside Lincoln and Omaha. . :
The unemployment rate for the state outside Lincoln and Omaha was 5
percent in August, compared to 5.2 percent in July, and 3.8 percent in
August 1984. The estimates showed 419,335 people employed outside the
two largest cities, a decline of more than 1,200 people in the past 12
months. The unemployment estimate was 22,222 people, an increase of
more than 5,000 people in the past 12 months.
In Lancaster County, the department's statistics for August showed an
unemployment rate of 3.2 percent, compared to 3.4 percent in July and 2.7
percent in August of last year.
Soviet officials return banned books
MOSCOW The Moscow International Book Tair wound up Monday
with Soviet authorities handing back the titles they banned, and eager
Muscovites begging to take away any volumes left ever as publishers
packed up their wares.
The event, held in Moscow every two years, attract ed publishers from
more than 1C0 countries to do business with the Savkt state-owned
publishing houses. .-.
Eut for the thousands cf Russians wha packed the pavilkrs during the
week-bug fair, it was a rare char.ee to see and real f ::e!;a fcocks outside
state tseksheps,
Putlishcrs are not allowed to sell their bds to the public, and
security men checked all bags at the exit to rer:c. 0 1: y locks stolen by
Soviet citizens.
The boyfriend of a Soviet girl who tried to sir al a v;Ii:e by Vladimir
Nabokov said she was later expelled from the Yenr.g Cc:: .:: ar.ist League, a
msjor blow for any career in the Soviet Union. Others ha j letters written to
their place cfwork.
Cuba to free 70 political prisoners
HAVANA
Cuba i3 to free more than 70 political prisoners on
visiting U.S. Roman Catholic leaders, a U.S. d;cm-t in Havana said
Monday.
Castro's decision was passed to the U.S. authorities ty Cuban bishops
: who traveled to Washington for an episcopal 'conference last week.:;:;- :;
The move to free the detainees stemmed from private talks Castro had
Hith American bishops last January and the decision was passed on to the
local church by the Cuban leader himself only hours t t.rs they let for the
United States.
Human rights groups estimate seme 230 anti-Castro Cubans are still
serving long jail-terms in Havana, and the visiting churchmen, including
the archbishops of Boston and San Antonio, broufht heme sn undisclosed
list or prisoners said to be seriously ill cr in poor mental health.
Farm bank president predicts losses
1KB S0N ?oiE VVy' TI:e fcral bales that l:rJ to farmers will
lose between $350 million and $400 million this year and more in 1986, the
PTE! f he agf cy that lending fands &M Monday. :
g ffapwaact prices have pushed farmers to a crisis point and
S ministered banking system that loaned billions of dollars
to the form industry is feeling the pinch.
lfZfm fam bariks said recently they were considering
ilotfUltMiIion'doI5ar government assistance program because
tmers were unable to repay loans
wor4eiSCJ?f-te:nhs sur?-s fob and c:;ital stock that were
frnm V!r?t