MENA VN A A 1a ORT TTT

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ORLD

What prospects for summit?

as been a week of breathtaking
Spments in international diploma-
After much darkness and
*Pointment, there now seems to be
Stthe appearance of an opportunity
ovement in several areas of critical
Concern.

Firs there was the dramatic U.S.-
agreement to discard the spy
Ss against American Nicholas
Off and Soviet Gennady Zakharov.
Mind the face-saving formulas
Were built into the arrangement, or
Meaning of the episode was
by predictable media double-
aniloff was ‘‘released’’,
OV was ‘‘expelled’’. Such seman-
are Telatively unimportant. The
~“nt thing is that common sense
Umphed, and the diplomatic pro-
Now has been given a chance.
*t this week; Reagan will meet
€Vv at a specially arranged sum-
tun, hference in Iceland. This too is
ith 4° DEWS. It signifies a will to deal
€ real issues, something we have
from Washington since Ronald
Came to town.

fg e29AN’s “New Mood”
a: Said this, however, it seems
_ mllate to strike a sober note of cau-
mt events of the past week rep-
en pe best, a tiny opening which,
08 on what happens next, may
“8er or disappear altogether.

“Sident Reagan has moved slightly
Opening rational relations with
inesn » it is because global and
0 5 72 Pressures have forced him to
“lis quite possible, however, that
.Nerican leader merely wants a
“etic summit’’, a hollow event that
bj warily silence his critics, boost
an electoral prospects, and
‘false impression of movement in
°ntrol and other serious interna-
Ssues.

Gorbachev undoubtedly sus-

d oe and that is why he has arrang-
», Meet Reagan briefly in Iceland,
nt an holding a major summit

;, 1 the United States as pre-
arranged. Soviet leaders, wisely,
; lake the measure of Wash-
S “new mood’’, before stepping
Y more Reaganesque propaganda

F Need only recall our frustrated
tas the aftermath of last year’s
lich, mit. Reagan bathed in the
ho ts, spoke many fine words, then
Me to schedule some 20 nuclear
ne, UP. Star Wars development,
Se the SALT treaties, and stall or
Yery proposal for arms control

News
Analysis

Fred Weir |.

progress that has been put forward by the
other side.

Carl Sagan Arrested

On the domestic front there is clearly
no change of heart in the Reagan estab-
lishment. The U.S. last week detonated a
150 kiloton — the maximum permissible
yield — nuclear device in the Nevada
desert. It was the 20th U.S. nuclear test
since the Soviet testing moratorium
came into effect more than a year ago
(this includes three ‘secret’ tests,
unannounced by the Pentagon but con-
firmed by independent seismologists and
geologists who have detected and mea-

~ sured them).

Near the testing site in Nevada Sep-
tember 30 were hundreds of scientists,
doctors and peace activists, there to pro-
test the U.S. government’s refusal to join
the USSR in a suspension of nuclear
explosions. Ina revealing display of of-
ficial attitude, military security des-

cended upon the non-violent demon-

strators, arresting 139 of them, including
astronomer Carl Sagan.

The big media did not notice this story,
and Americans were thereby spared
from viewing the painful spectacle of the
creator of Cosmos, one of the world’s
foremost voices for humanism and
common sense, being trussed-up with
plastic handcuffs and thrown into the
back of a military van.

No Visas for Scientists

In yet another development, which
speaks volumes about the Reagan admin-
istration’s underlying intentions, the
U.S. State Department has refused to
grant Soviet scientists the opportunity to
go to Nevada and set up seismic measur-
ing equipment as Americans have been
permitted to do in the USSR. (See last
week’s Trib for story).

The Soviet scientists, who were to
have come to the U.S. on September 14
as part of a reciprocal arrangement with
American colleagues, have had their visa
applications denied unless they will
agree to one of two unacceptable condi-
tions.

Late last week the Tribune contacted
the scientists’ group which has invited

the Soviets, the Natural Resources De-
fence Council (NRDC). A spokesperson
told us that the Soviet scientists are not
being permitted into the United States
unless they agree to either:

1) Act asofficial Soviet witnesses of an
American nuclear test. Then they may be
allowed to set up their seismic equipment
in Nevada for two weeks only. (The
Soviet government has refused to of-
ficially observe a U.S. nuclear explosion,

because to do so would be to endorse the-

continuation of testing). ‘
2) Or, the Soviet scientists may come
to the U.S. for one week only, but may
not go anywhere near the Nevada testing
zone, and may not set up any seismic
detection equipment anywhere. (Ameri-
can seismologists have been inthe USSR
for three months, and with no political
preconditions have been allowed to set

up seismic equipment all around the .

major Soviet test site).

This apparently represents the Reagan
administration’s final word. What it
means is that U.S. scientists will be un-
able to carry out their half of the bargain,
and give their Soviet counterparts access
to seismic data concerning American nu-
clear tests. It also means that one of the
most imaginative private initiatives for
peace and international co-operation
ever devised has been now effectively
killed.

These are things worth keeping in
mind as Reagan heads for Iceland to
meet Gorbachev. Diplomacy alone, im-
portant as it may be, will not force the
Reagan administration to bargain in good
faith. There is no substitute for a
mobilized public. If we are to defeat the
Cold War, that is what we need now
more than ever. “ag

Bad week for scientists: Carl Sagan
(above) was arrested at anti-nuclear test-
ing demonstration in Nevada. Soviet
participants in joint scientific monitoring
project were denied visas to enter U.S.

Iraq and Iran
war drags on

TORONTO — The devastating
carnage of the Iran and Iraq war
was the topic of discussion at a
public meeting held last week in
Toronto. Sponsored by the Iraqi
Democratic Union, the Tudeh
Party (Iran) and the Iranian
Peoples Fedain (Majority) the
meeting was held as the Iran-Iraq
conflict enters its 7th year with no
end in sight.

A leading representative of the
Tudeh Party described the devas-
tation the war has created in the
region. ‘‘The war has caused un-
told suffering to the peoples of
Iran and Iraq. The number of kil-
led, wonded and maimed has top-
ped 1.2-million. On the Iranian
side almost three million have be-
come homeless refugees. Tens of
thousands have ‘deserted the
army and emigrated. The loss of
property in Iran is estimated at
$250-billion.. The fruits of the
labor of several generations of
Iranians and Iraqis have ° been
lost.”

A meeting of the Communist
and Worker’s parties of the Arab
countries in June 1985 pointed out
that the war has been accom-
panied by growing signs of retro-
gression in the policies of both
countries. It also pointed out the
role of the United States and Is-
rae] in fanning the flames of war in
the region. :

On the positive side the speaker
pointed out that there were in-
creasingly frequent anti-war |
demonstrations in Iran ‘‘which —
have assumed particularily note-
worthy proportions in recent
months and are evidence of wide-
spread protest against the per-
sisting carnage.”

Addressing the audience, the
Tudeh Party representative
reiterated the position of his par-
ty: ““We demand that hostilities
be ended immediately and that
steps be taken to settle all dis-
putes by peaceful means guar-
anteeing the legitimate rights and
interests of both neighbouring
peoples and ruling out all curtail-
ment. of their national in-
dependence and sovereignty,”” he
said.

All three organizations expres-
sed their resolve to do all in their
power to bring the conflict to an
end and to bring peace to the reg-
ion.

TORONTO — “This is a
Throne Speech that ought to
be torn up and a new one writ-

ten,” Communist Party gen-

eral secretary William Kashtan
said, Oct. 1, responding to the
Mulroney government’s agenda
for the current Parliamentary
session. :

While trying to project a
“caring” image and mention-
ing almost every interest group
in the country from children to
the Atlantic provinces, the
government’s agenda came
under universal criticism for
failing to propose any concrete
actions other than promsing to
stay the couse on the neo-
conservative agenda of slash-

assert that

its agenda.

ing the deficit and trimming
government spending as the
Tories’ top priority.

Instead, he Communist lead-'
er said, the government should
have placed economic expan-
sion, the raising of people’s
purchasing power and vital ©
issues such as alleviating the
crisis of the family farmer on

Kashtan asked.

“The Throne Speech shows
that the government is still
addicted to its austerity pro-
gram-in that it continues to
its anti-inflation
measures take precedence over
the need to fight unemploy-
ment and create jobs,” Kash-
tan said in an interview.

as other exemptions.

“Where are the jobs, jobs,
jobs, that were promised by
Prime Minister Mulroney?”

He rejected the Tory argu-
ment that the deficit made it
impossible to develop an ex-
pansionary economic program
for Canada, because the gov-
ernment has given and con-
tinues to give big business
billions of dollars in incentive
money and income tax as well

He also accused the Tories
of “playing games with the
Canadian people” on the tax
reform issue. While noting the
.Vague promises in the Throne

Speech, he cited the proposed

Business Transfer Tax which
will in fact increase taxation on.
the public and reduce taxes for
the corporate sector.

The Throne Speech’s “fam-
ily orientation” and its sup-
posed “caring” image relative
to action against drug and
alcohol abuse, prostituion, child
abuse, and other promises are
legitimate questions to be dealt
with but don’t address far
more fundamental problems
confronting Canadian families,
he said.

“Canadians don’t need the
government to ‘stay the course,”
they need a government that
will chart a new direction lead-
ing to jobs and a higher living
standard,” Kashtan said.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 8, 1986 « 5