Convenient spy scam

The timing of Ottawa’s Soviet “spies” announcement was just too perfect:
conveniently leaked to the media at the very moment Prime Minister Mulroney
was on the Economic Summit world stage. But this was just the packaging for a
more dangerous operation with a serious political goal.

There are two main reasons why the “spy” story broke just when it did. The
first concerns improving Canadian-Soviet relations, part of the East-West trend
underway; the second involves a particular matter — British Trafalgar-class
nuclear-powered attack submarines.

Soviet-Canadian relations have benefitted greatly from the recent thaw
between the U.S. and USSR, the Reagan-Gorbachev summits, the INF treaty
and the new detente. Canadians have
heard with interest Soviet proposals
for a demilitarized Arctic, our busi-
ness people have stepped up their
activities with Soviet counterparts,
cultural ties have grown. In short, the
benefits of co-operation and friend-
ship with our northern neighbour
have become increasingly apparent to
many Canadians.

But for those who thrive on cold
war and military contracts, the
“Soviet threat” image must be rre-
served. Detente is anathema; mistrust
is their oxygen. Canada-Soviet co-operation isn’t compatible with the Tory
defence white paper, nuclear subs and the absorption of Canada into the U.S.
orbit.

Primarily, the “spy” episode was a pre-emptive strike at the new thinking
beginning to take hold in international relations.

In this context, it was also designed to “prove” that Canada can be “trusted”
with U.S. technology built into the British Trafalgar-class submarine. The New
York Times, June 22, said it plainly: ““(Clark’s) announcement seems to have
been drafted with an eye to the United States, where President Reagan acted
two months ago to overrule Pentagon objections and approve the transfer to
Canada of some of the most sensitive U.S. naval technology ... But powerful
officials in the U.S. Navy and Congress have argued that Canadian security is
inadequate ... ”

There are two main reasons why
the “spy” story broke just when
it did. The first concerns improv-
ing Canadian-Soviet relations,
part of the East-West trend
underway; the second involvesa
particular matter — British Tra-
falgar-class nuclear-powered
attack submarines.

To win the nod from the U.S. Congress and strike at growing Soviet-

Canadian relations is what the “spy” scandal was about.

It’s a grim reminder that detente has powerful and determined enemies. Its
alsoa signal that the struggle to make detente irreversible should be pressed with
even more vigour.

THREAT To

THE Eb

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Letters

Alex Taylor, Vancouver, writes: I just
read another article, this one in a bour-
geois paper criticizing Gorbachev and
glasnost in the form of a letter from a
CPSU member, a Leningrad teacher
called Nina Andreev. According to this
“Sovietology” article Legor Ligachev
waited until Gorbachev was in Yugoslavia
and then pulled some strings to get “Soviet
Russia” to print her article which Pravda
had refused.

What these Soviet watchers don’t like to
admit is that there is open divergence of
opinion in the USSR and the CPSU. Liga-
chev may be of the old guard but he is still
a Politburo member whose opinions are
listened to and heeded.

The whole point of glasnost is a free
exchange of opinions. And Ms. Andreev is
far from the first writer to laud Stalin in
recent months.

Stalin died before I was born, but my
view is that he was neither a demon nor a
saint. I make no apologies either for hay-
ing supported Krushev, Brezhnev, And-

Peter Ramsey, Victoria, writes: I think
it’s pretty obvious that the “spy” scandal
was intended to reverse the growing public
opposition to nuclear submarines and the
arms race.

Despite Mulroney, (and I think, the
“spy” stories hurt the government’s credi-
bility and our business relations) relations
between East and West are improving.

Victor Afanasyev, aside from editing
Pravda also wrote some of the most doc-
trinaire books on political economy dur-
ing Brezhnev’s tenure. It is to his credit
that he can adapt with the times.

Criticize while leaders alive

ropov and Chernenko. They each were
right for their stage in history and each
brought the Soviet Union closer to being
the world’s leading country. I think Gor-
bachev and Afanasvyev welcome criti-
cism. That is how scientific socialism is
supposed to work. What good does post-
humous criticism do?

Tories real threat to peace

People don’t completely buy cold war
rhetoric any more, in this era of glasnost
and the INF treaty. Still, the effect of the
expulsion of Soviet embassy personnel is
to have a “chilling” effect on the peace
movement — and the growing “free”
trade opposition.

The Tory government is the real threat
to peace and Canadian independence.

Bill Campbell, Kamloops, writes: With
B.C.’s attorney general voluntarily leaving
Vander Zalm and, I hope, more of the
political rodents sliding down the ropes in
the near future, I do think we should all
remember just how The Zalm was
“elected” without him even being a
member of the B.C. legislature. The
Socreds, with a bit of fast foot work,
replaced the elected Premier Bill Bennett
with a Socred-Whistler-convention-selec-
ted Bill Vander Zalm.

Heaven knows, our present form of
democracy is very far from complete so all
the more reason to hang on to what we
have. Let’s hope, then, that if and when
Vander Zalm departs and any similar tac-
tics are used as those that got him into
position, that there is real public outcry.
And leading this should be the- NDP
MLAs by refusing to recognize (as they
should have done before) any premier so
“elected.”

4 « Pacific Tribune, July 6, 1988