News Digest Edited by Brandon Loomis _ ■ ■■ ■ ■ ■- — — — ■ —P—— W. Germany approves aid for E. Germany BONN, West Germany - West Germany approved $3.6 billion in aid for East Germany on Wednesday to keep its economy afloat and prevent its citizens from fleeing in frustration until the two nations become one. Another $1 billion was approved to resettle East Germans who come to the West Though the money is earmarked for specific East German programs, none of it will go directly to the gov emment of Communist Premier Hans Modrow, who likely will be ousted when the country holds its first free elections on March 18. Modrow, whose two-day summit here concluded Wednesday, had re quested $9 billion in immediate di rect aid Tuesday but was turned down by the government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Both leaders, however, hailed the landmark agreement by the Soviet Union, the United States, France and Britain that sets up a procedure for formal talks on reunification. The agreement by the four World War II Allies that defeated and di vided Germany 45 years ago is a diplomatic breakthrough and a first step to a timetable for reunification. American historians downplay threat of reunified Germany WASHINGTON - Historians say misgivings about a reunited Ger many are understandable but the world has more to fear from a power vacuum in the center of Europe. For the most part, the historians said an East Germany collapsing into chaos would be far more dan gerous than a united Germany. “The only alternative to reuni fication,” said Henry Ashby Turner of Yale, is an East Germany in ruins, “a basket case, a Bangla desh of Europe.” Added Richard Breitman of American University, author of three books on German history: “One Germany is not only inevitable, but given the successful record of West Germany over the last 40 years, my feeling is it is better than having a regime in chaos.” Turner, author of “The Two Germanies Since 1945,” said Ger mans have “no significant interest in territorial revisions. Those mis givings are misplaced. I don’t think there is any chance that the young men of Germany are going to slip out of their Adidas running shoes and pull on jackboots and start running around saying, ‘Heil!’” Gerhard Weinberg of the Uni versity of North Carolina, consid ered a leading historian concen trating on the Nazi era, cautioned that reunification, if mishandled, still could prove explosive. While the people of West Eu rope have learned to put aside their nationalistic distrusts, East Euro peans “have been deprived of that by a control system which restricted their freedoms to choose govern ments and express themselves. They have not, therefore, had the oppor tunity to work out nationalist senti ments.” “We see this as an exceptionally important development and a great success for the West German foreign minister, an important step toward German unity,” Hanns Schumacher, a West German Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Wednesday. Modrow told reporters in Bonn that he welcomed the announcement, made during a meeting of Warsaw Pact and NATO nations Tuesday in Ottawa, and considered it the best means of protecting both German interests and those of the wartime allies. East Germany is a key component of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact and West Germany serves much the same role in NATO. The United States wants to keep a united Germany in NATO, while the Soviets arc press ing for German neutrality. During the talks between the pcr manys, West Germany has a com manding position because of its vi brant economy, which will be needed to bail out the financially ailing east ern state, where thousands are fleeing to the West. Modrow, who spoke with West German industrial leaders on the last day of his visit, told reporters before returning to East Berlin that he was uisappoiilicu uy rvuiu s itjctuon 01 East Germany’s appeal for immedi ate aid. Government and opposition po litical forces had asked for up to $9 billion to help the East German gov ernment until the election. West German Economics Minis ter Helmut Haussmann said Bonn turned down the request because it “makes no sense” to grant loans or credits to East Germany when so little is known of its economic situation. However, Finance Minister Thco Waigel on Wednesday announced Cabinet approval of $2.4 billion to modernize East Germany’s aging factories, repair roads, install a new phone system and other “immediate measures” to improve production and living standards. The 1990 budget supplement also provides $1 billion to cope with the costs of lens of thousands of East Germans resettling in West Germany, and another $1.2 billion for a contin gency fund for unforeseen expenses related to East German reforms. Haussmann told reporters that the bulk of the money would be available immediately. 1 Two ground stations on Maui, If Hawaii will aim laser V beams simultaneously tpvgfV iff! at the satelite orbiting \ f \ iff OTA ^Kaua John Bruce/Dally Nebraskan Two SDI satellites launched to gauge system’s accuracy CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Two satellites rocketed into space Wednesday to test a “Star Wars” plan to destroy hostile missiles by bouncing laser beams off orbiting mirrors. One satellite carried a mirror designed to reflect lasers fired from a Hawaiian mountaintop back to a ground target to test the accuracy of such a system. The other held sensors for meas uring how successfully scientists can correct distortions caused by dust, moisture and gases as the beam shoots through the atmos phere. The satellites were carried aloft by a 12-story Delta rocket at 11:15 a.m. Nearly two hours later, the Air Force announced both were in their proper orbits and functioning properly. A successful mission could help preserve the S4.5 billion that Presi dent Bush is seeking for research in budget year 1991 for the Strategic Defense Initiative, or “Star Wars.” Some members of Congress want to cut that amount. In the missile-intercepting proj ect called Relay Mirror Experi ment, two ground stations on Maui, Hawaii, will aim low-powered laser beams simultaneously at the 2,300 pound satellite orbiting 270 miles above Earth. The satellite holds a 24-inch mirror designed to point a laser beam with an error of less than 57 millionths of a degree. RME will use the first two beams as signals to orient its mirror. When an Air Force station atop Mount Haleakala aims another beam at the satellite, the beam should re flect off the mirror and strike a sensor target at the base of the mountain 12 miles away. The tests are scheduled to start in about two weeks and to last eight months. RME will pass within range of the Hawaii stations at least once a day. The second satellite, called LACE for Low-Power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment, will test a set of 210 laser-sensitive sensors packed into a square measuring 13 feel on each side. The Mount Haleakala laser to be used on the 3,17*i-pound pay load has a special flexible mirror for distorting the laser beam on Earth to compensate for atmos pheric disturbances. The beam should be sharp and powerful by the time it reaches LACE orbiting 340 miles high. Proposal for strengthened presidency met with criticism in Supreme Soviet MOSCOW - President Mikhail Gorbachev appealed Wednesday for legislative backing for a stronger presidency and said it was vital to his reforms, but wary lawmakers refused to be stampeded into setting a time table. Once again, the 542-member Supreme Soviet proved itself a force to be reckoned with in the new Soviet political game, which under Gorbachev has shifted more from closed-door sessions of the Kremlin leadership to elected government bodies. After a two-month break, the fledg ling Soviet legislature reconvened for the third time in its less than one-year history. Lawmakers approved a 22 item agenda to debate bills designed to pul flesh on the skeleton of Gor bachev’s economic and social reforms, including legalization of private prop erty. However, the Kremlin leadership’s proposal to call an emergency session of the Supreme Soviet’s parent body, the Congress of People’s Deputies, to replace the office now held by Gor bachev with a stronger Western-style presidency met with raucous debate. “Unless democracy is strength ened and ensured by corresponding mechanisms, democracy will perish, and we’ll lose,” Gorbachev angrily told his critics. Otherwise, he said, the victors will be forces who want to “tighten the screws even tighter than they were earlier.” More power for the presidency would strengthen Gorbachev’s gov ernment powers while further weak ening theCommunist Party apparatus that he is trying to reform. 91 passengers die in Indian jet crash NEW DELHI, India - An Indian Airlines Airbus jet that had been in use only three months crashed onto a golf course and burned Wednesday short of a runway in southern India, and 91 of the 146 people on board died, officials said. The Airbus-320 grazed a clump of trees on its final approach to Banga lore airport and caught fire when it hit the ground, about 50 yards from the runway, officials said. The flight originated in Bombay, 530 miles northwest of Bangalore. At least 55 people survived the crash, including two Americans, the airline said. Gorbachev would have two pow erful instruments to implement his program of “perestroika’ ’ -- the party apparatus and the reinforced machin ery of government Vice President Anatoly Lukyanov, who flanked Gorbachev beneath a gilded globe emblazoned with the hammer and sickle, recommended that lawmakers call the Congress into -4 4 Unless democracy is strengthened and ensured by corre sponding mecha nisms. democracy will perish, and well lose. President Gorbachev -f f - session Feb. 27 to fortify the presi dency and make other constitutional changes — including the planned abandonment of the Communist Parly’s legally guaranteed right to govern. A close Gorhachev adviser, Georgy Shaknazarov, told reporters during a break in the proceedings that lop Kremlin officials want the Congress to elect the new president within a month. But the Supreme Soviet voted 304 95, with 34 abstentions, to debate the presidential issue first. If the Supreme Soviet approves Gorbachev’s plan to fortify the presidency, it must then be confirmed by the Congress of People’s Deputies. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader sinc e March 1985, is likely to be a candi date for the new presidency, but for the second time in a week he spoke guardedly about whether he will run. “If we proceed to take a decision on the presidency, we will decide that there will be alternative candidates,” he said. “I don’t know if I will be among the alternatives.” Still, a half-dozen speakers Wednes day criticized the rush to create a more powerful presidency, and Gor bachev acknowledged that some Soviets equate him with late Roma nian dictator Nicolac Ceausescu. He did not clarify whether the compari son was being made by reformers or by hard-liners who supported Ceaus escu’s brand of iron-fisted leader ship. Ceausescu was ousted by a popu lar revolution and executed Dec. 25. Gorbachev told the legislature that he was once opposed to presidential power, but “life has demanded changes.” In the Soviet political sys tem, the head of state has tradition ally been merely a figurehead. A prominent liberal lawmaker from Ixmingrad, Anatoly Sobchak, said that increasing the powers of the presi dency would decrease those of the legislature, and he opposed such a shift. Ilmar Bisher of Latvia said he supported the stronger presidency but only if the powers of the office arc carefully tailored. He said that couldn’t be done in time to hold a session of the 2,250-mcmber Congress this month. Nebraskan Editor Amy Edwards Graphics Editor John Bruca h__ __ 472-1788 Photo Chief Dave Hansen Editor Ryan Steeves Night News Editors Jana Pedersen Assoc News Editors Lisa Donovan Diane Brayton CJ, Erie Planner Art Director Brian Shelllto d tonal Page Editor Bob Nelson Genera) Manager Dan Shattll rv>r«, rwu cw!0f ®r*ndon Loomis Production Manager Katherine Pollcky CopyQ"®J |d!!°r 9V.CL* Wlegert Advertising Manager Jon Daehnke Arts A Jell Apel Sales Manager Kerry Jeffries A ts 4 Entertainment Publications Eioarrl Editor Michael Deeds Chairman Pam Hein Diversions Editor Mick Dyer 472-2588 Professional Adviser Don Walton braska Union S^uotfR S|Sfn 14i* °i5c* '» Published bY th« UNL Publications Board, Ne weekly du mg^umilw sessions *** M°"n'contacI Pa" ™ *»■ St L°ncolnStNE 68581^?ill ^ 10 the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34, 1400 R St .Lincoln, NE SjcondLciawi oostage paid at Lincoln NE. ^ALLMATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1990 DAILY NEBRASKAN