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Reagan’s big stick
seen in Caribbean

| _ The Caribbean Peace movement got a fillip with a recently-held
“onference on Popular Education held in Puerto Rico.

Ong those in attendance was Eddie Da Silva, the Chairman

i ae Barbadian peace organization Ploughshares for Life. He

‘the Tribune that the March 19-23 get together, which was
Partially funded by the Barbados-based Caribbean Conference of
Aurches, was primarily concerned in honing and generally im-
ToVing ways of educating and learning from the public on the
ace question. He pointed to the urgency of the situation which
f Seen continuing U.S. military manoeuvres, including the use
‘huclear-armed and powered naval vessels, among the islands.
_4n Puerto Rico in particular, there has been massive, and
~aily unnecessary and wasteful in our view, U.S. military activ-
y, cluding the Ocean Venture series of exercises,’’ said Da
Va, adding that the island was used as part of the staging area —
arbados being the other major place — for the October 1983
Vasion of Grenada by U.S.-led forces. :
mili legates also looked at the continuing training of Caribbean
bad ary forces, such as those from the Defence Force of Bar-
| “oS, by the National Guard in Puerto Rico.

A fa Silva also argued that peace groups remain vigilant that, as
th © Case with Grenada, Puerto Rico could be used as part of the
_ *8ing areas for an invasion of Nicaragua.

— Story and photo: Norman Faria

Battleship diplomacy: USS lowa off Barbados recently.

U.S. Nevada nuclear testing
results in end to Soviet ban

MOSCOW — The Soviet Government reacted
quickly to the April 10 nuclear test conducted by
the United States and declared on April 11 the
USSR is now free from its unilateral commitment
not to carry out nuclear testing.

However, the statement again demonstrated the
responsible attitude of the USSR to the most im-
portant issue in world affairs, the question of world
peace. Once more the Soviet government expres-
sed its readiness to return at any time to the issue of
a mutual moratorium on nuclear tests if the U.S.
declares it will do likewise.

The latest Nevada blast, said the statement,
‘Once again clearly demonstrates that what is
concealed behind the words of the U.S. admin-
istration about its devotion to the aim of liquidating
nuclear arms is the intent to further threaten
humankind with the nuclear sword, to keep the
world in the trap of fear of universal annihilation.”

The Soviet Government charged that Wash-
ington has placed the egoistic, imperial ambitions
of the U.S. military-industrial complex above the
interests of humankind. It described the latest U.S.
nuclear blast as an irresponsible act, a challenge
not only to the Soviet Union, but to all peoples.

‘The Soviet Union has repeatedly given the
U.S. administration a chance to confirm by practi-
cal deeds its statements on the striving for a nu-
clear-free world, and to take the responsible deci-
sion to join the Soviet moratorium on nuclear
tests.’’ The statement went on to point out that in
his television broadcast of March 29 Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev, has warned the U.S. that if it
continued nuclear testing after March 31, the
Soviet Union would be forced to resume its nuclear
testing.

‘*Since, contrary to these warnings, the U.S.
conducted a new nuclear test, the USSR declares
that from now on it is free from the unilateral
commitment made by it to refrain from conducting
nuclear tests. In the conditions that Washington is
continuing its nuclear testing, the Soviet state can-
not forgo its own security and that of its allies.”’

However, the Soviet statement went on to re-
peat the position of the government that an end to
nuclear testing would be an effective step leading

to the elimination of nuclear weapons. It also de-
clared, once again, the Soviet readiness to return at
any time to the question of a mutual moratorium,
provided the U.S. declares that it will refrain from
conducting such explosions.

‘Thus, the resolution of the question of ending
nuclear testing depends, as before, on whether the
American administration displays a sense of
realism and responsibility,” it says, and again calls
upon the U.S. to start immediate talks on a full

‘prohibition of nuclear arms testing.

Two days before the April 10 blast, Gorbachev
delivered a strong warning to Washington in a
speech to the working people of Togliatti: ‘““One of
the most dangerous illusions is that the Soviet
Union’s peaceful intentions and appeals are a sign
of weakness. So I shall say this: You won’t wear us
down inan arms race. You won't hit us from space.
You won’t outpace us in technology ...’’ Gor-
bachev reminded his audience that the majority of
the world community, the non-aligned nations, the
developing world, and the working people in
capitalist countries are for maintaining peace. ““‘We
are for safeguarding the spirit of Paris and Geneva.
One should not play games with politics in the
nuclear age,’’ he said. :

What happened?

e Aug. 15, 1985: USSR declares unilateral
test ban until Dec. 31, 1985. Urges U.S. to join.

e Dec. 31, 1985: USSR extends ban until
March 31, 1986, again urges U.S. to join.

e March 15, 1986: USSR offers to extend
ban past March 31 indefinitely, ‘‘until U.S.
conducts another test.’’

e April 10, 1986: U.S. conducts nuclear test
in Nevada (ninth since Soviet moratorium). —
e April 11, 1986: USSR ends unilateral

moratorium.

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS Tom Morris

millions of the U.S. ‘‘aid’’ to
Afghan rebels — Zia and his

Achallenge to

neral Zia

the scene demanding free and
fair elections and a return to
democracy.

tion for an independent

country.
And, predictably, Canada’s

Back somewhere in the far

Partment must be getting a
y twinge — a sort of deja
~~ as they watched Benazir
Utto return to Pakistan last
after years in exile.
as y must have experienced
bas hook, Marcos syndrome”
“fe Undreds of thousands
ted Bhutto, 32-year-old
dep ehter of deposed and mur-
former President Ali
ee Memories of Manila
a th have come crashing back
ds shouted, “‘Zia is

papeneral Zia, who has kept
> aa under martial law for
i ight years since the 1977
iden and 1981 hanging of Pres-
ing Bhutto, has been a darl-
; oe Washington. He’s pro-
hi the perfect cover from
'nd which the U.S. keeps
i Tebel war”’ in Afghanistan
Ne year after year.
ie mind that Zia is a
that €r of his own people, or
Pri he now hand-picks a
Me Minister’, while refus-
: Elections ‘‘until 1990"’.
‘“t mind, even, that the
military siphon off

<
[2

boys have played the game

well. So well, in fact, the U.S.
concluded a $4.2-billion pack-
age for Zia’s regime on March
24.

Reagan’s attorney-general
Edwin Meese, speaking last
month in Pakistan, even had
the gall to talk about
‘‘America’s commitment to
democracy’’ and cited the
Philippines and Haiti as proof
of Washington’s democratic
frame of mind.

That, of course, was before
Benazir Bhutto and her Pakis-
tan People’s Party arrived on

ie >
ax

I)

“= im

Washington’s favorite Pakistan
general may be showing wear.

Interestingly, Bhutto herself
traces the coup against her
father, directly to the United
States and to that infamous ar-
chitect of the murder of
another democratically elected
President, Chile’s Salvador Al-
lende. On British television re-
cently she charged former
U.S. Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger with masterminding
Ali Bhutto’s downfall and
murder.

So, while the Sixth Fleet
plays in the Mediterranean,
who’s minding the Pakistan
desk at State?

Together with
child killers

Despite a fierce barrage of
self-serving propaganda, it was
clear to almost every nation
that Reagan’s attack on Libya
is seen world-wide as illegal,
immoral, idiotic, dangerous
and counter-productive.

Of the world’s 160 nations,
only four supported the attack:
Britain, who permitted U.S.
F-111 bombers the use of

. ie
Lewis still jumping through

Tory hoops.

British bases thus committing
an act of war; Israel, whose re-
gime can’t get enough killing
and mayhem and loves it when
its patron gets involved direct-
ly; South Africa, whose genoc-
idal racist system needs little
comment — and Canada.

What fine company Mul-
roney has put us with. His
trumpeted ‘‘special relation-
ship’’ with Reagan turns out to
be that of a manservant, a piti-
ful, grovelling little butler.
He’s now dropped us in league
with Thatcher, Peres and
Botha in his eagerness to
please Washington. It’s a
shameful and degrading posi-

United Nations ambassador,
Stephen Lewis, got his orders
straight. In the service of an
unbelievably pro-American
Tory government, ‘‘socialist”’
Lewis has jumped through
countless hoops. He’s de-
fended apartheid by opposing
boycotts, he’s fronted for
Reagan on Afghanistan, he’s
kept his mouth shut over
ClA-contra attacks on
Nicaragua, and now he sup-
ports the bombing of Libya.

Lest Lewis ever apply to
enter socialist heaven (if there
is one) we may as well place on
record his words about Libya:
On April 16 in Montreal, he
denied there were ambiguities
in Canada’s view of the Libyan
events and said he supports
(sic) Canada’s position.

‘We said we supported the
raids to the extent that their
objective was to end terrorism.
In that context the attack was
understandable. But one feels
awful about innocent lives
being lost and one has appre-
hensions about a cycle of vio-
lence which gets back to the
roots of the problem.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 23, 1986 e 13