Friday, November 1, 1985
Daily Nebraskan
Page 5
Summit preparations change policy emphasis
nn he celebration (yes, that word is used) of
Xtne united Nations' 40th birthday has
caused much traveling to and fro. So has
the pre-summit. One wishes world leaders, espe
cially our leader, could be more like Macon
Leary.
Leary, a character in Anne Tyler's wonderful
new novel, "The Accidental Tourist," hates tra
veling and writes guidebooks for people who feel
as he does. The books tell people who would
rather be at home where to find a Taco Bell in
Mexico City, a Roman restaurant that serves
Chef Boy-ar-dee ravioli, a Madrid hotel with
Beautyrest mattresses. "Generally food in Bri
tain is not as jarring as in other countries."
Because the president is to travel to Geneva,
Switzerland, he traveled to the United Nations to
say, sensibly, that there are summit issues other
than arms control. But this attempt to lower
expectations was vitiated by the proclamation of
a Utopian expectation: U.S.-Soviet "differences"
can be "resolved" through "dialogue." Because
the Geneva trip now drives all policy, the admin
istration succumbs to the sentimentality of
democracy.
A few days before announcing yet another
Soviet violation of SALT limits on offensive wea
pons (deployment of the SS-25, a new mobile
ballistic missile), the administration made an
announcement. Under the pressure of pre-Geneva
maneuvering, it said that it would bind itself
with an unnecessarily restrictive reading of the
treaty concerning defenses against ballistic
missiles. Why this irrational decision to embrace
what the administration says is a misreading of a
treaty the Soviet Union is flagrantly violating?
George
Will
Were the president not trying to tune the
atmosphere for the trip to Geneva, he would not
have said this: The correct reading of the ABM
treaty allows development and testing of space
based defenses against ballistic missiles, but we
shall abide by an incorrect reading that forbids
even innocuous concession to nervous allies and
domestic opponents, he understands neither the
sociology of a large scientific undertaking nor
the politics of an expensive military procure
ment. The Strategic Defense Initiative will require
many scientists to devote their prime years to it.
If the administration's commitment seems ten
uous, they will find other devotions. Further
more, Congress always is reluctant to diminish
discretionary-spending opportunities by com
mitting vast sums to weapons systems. Congress
confronts, simultaneously, a future barren of
discretionary spending and full of SDI, the most
expensive public project in history.
Reagan says SDI is morally urgent but less
urgent than pacifying critics who make a fetish
of a misreading of the ABM treaty. Congress will
not fund an SDI system that is subordinated to
the ABM treaty in any way that prevents all
except inconclusive tests of sub-components. So
the wounding, perhaps mortal wounding, of SDI
is one result of the maneuvering for the Geneva
trip.
In a 10 minute session with a representative of
Solidarity, Poland's outlawed trade union, Rea
gan, who has raised optimism to a philosophy
and has severed philosophy from evidence, said
he has "high hopes" for happiness in Poland,
happiness from "dialogue." An administration
climatologist explained the mushiness of Rea
gan's remarks in terms of the "East-West cli
mate." That is, the problem is travel the trip
to Geneva. The President, who believes in dia
logue between communists and their victims,
should read the forthcoming Reader's Digest
account of the murder of Father Jerzy Popie
luszko by the regime:
"His eyes and forehead had been beaten till
black. His jaw, nose, mouth and skull were
smashed, his fingers and toes dark red and
brown from repeated clubbing. Part of his scalp
and large strips of skin on his legs had been torn
off. . . . His muscles had been pounded again and
again until limp .... The teeth were found
completely smashed. In place of his eloquent
tongue, there was only mush."
A tongue like that makes dialogue difficult.
But an early arrival at the United Nation's birth
day bash, Gen. Jaruzelski, asphyxiator of Poland,
was given a dinner by the Council on Foreign
Relations. Well, a traveler must eat.
1985, Washington Post Writers Group
Will is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and a
contributing editor for Newsweek magazine.
Letters
Brief letters are preferred, and longer letters may be edited. Writer's
address and phone number are needed for verification.
Athletes worth more than they receive
In reference to Todd Ruhter's letter
(Daily Nebraskan, Oct. 30): The money
that supports the athletic programs
and provides the so-called special
facilities come from boosters, alumni,
donations and revenues earned by the
programs themselves. Not a dime comes
out of your pocket.
I would like to invite you to partici
pate in any of the athletic programs, probably should be).
and may be then you'll realize that the So just remember "pal," you'll only
athletes are worth more than they get. get out of this university what you put
I agree that higher education should into it.
be the main goal of the university, but
don't blame the athletes for the educa- Steve Spurgeon
tion you're not getting. During the time fashion merchandising
you were writing your letter, you prob- freshman
ably should have been studying, (as I baseball player
Speaker emphasizes futility of blind allegiance
A packed room and a standing ova
tion for Robert Muller, executive direc
tor of the Vietnam Veterans of America,
on Tuesday night is a sure sign the UNL
students are interested and worried
about past and present U.S. foreign pol
icy. Muller gave a frighteningly realis
tic account of the Vietnam War and it's
implications for current American pol
icy. One cannot help but question pres
idents who fought a war based on "kill
ratios," "destroy and search," and "the
mad man theory."
When Reagan gets on network tele
vision and suggests that the American
public must support any and all U.S.
military actions in times of crisis, it is
time to look back at Vietnam and ask,
"Under what circumstances should the
U.S. go to war?" "What is our responsi
bility as citizens?" (How many of us are
absolutely certain who the U.S. sup
ports in Central America?) And most
importantly, "What is our government's
responsibility to us?"
Muller made me realize how impor
tant it is to understand, recognize, and
appreciate past actions of the U.S.
government, and he left me with impor
tant questions for which I hold my
government responsible. Foreign pol
icy is not a matter of the Good Guys
against the Bad Guys. Reagan is not
John Wayne, and I thank Muller for
reminding me of this.
Anne Winter
senior
business administration
Achievements of U.N.
cannot be discounted
U.N. from Page 4
The far-flung agencies have con
tributed to improvements in health
conditions in many parts of the
world-including near eradication of
small pox and malaria. Collection of
weather statistics has helped agri
culture in several underdeveloped
countries. Socioeconomic problems
were added to the problems of
peace and security, which had been
the UN's original concern. Such
successes, however, have received
little or not attention in the media,
particularly in the West. Not sur
prisingly, the average citizen has
been in the dark regarding the
achievements of the United Nations.
In the words of President Reagan
the United Nations "has been and
can be a force for good. While it
hasn't solved every problem or pre
vented every conflict, there have
been shining accomplishments.
More than few are alive and live
decently because of this institution."
Let us hope that the organiza
tion, founded four decades ago in
the hope that it would "save the
succeeding generation from the
scourge of war," be supported, pre
served and perhaps improved. I
wish this splended organization a
very happy anniversary.
Mrinal Bhattacharya
graduate student
agricultural engineering
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