*

U.S. examines option
of troops in El Salvador

In an Aug. 13 story, the To- calling the situation
ronto Globe & Mail reports that ‘‘discouraging’’ and ‘‘lousey’’.
the United States is seriously He said, however, that the United
considering sending troops to States would consider other op-

boost the sagging fortunes of the tion first, including a military.

EI! Salvador military junta. blockade of Cuba.
Reporting from Panama City,

the paper quotes ‘‘knowledgeable The official discounted further
sources” saying that revolution- military supplies ($35-million
ary forces of the Farabundo Marti worth have already been sent) be-
National Liberation Front are ef- cause the junta forces could not
fectively gaining against the handle more. At present the U.S.
U.S.-backed junta. The story re- admits to having 56 military
ports ‘‘a U.S. military source’ ‘‘advisers’’ in the country.

Wave of Greek fires
‘plan of destruction’
pian of aestrucuon

ATHENS — The recent wave of fires that swept Greece have
been described in the country’s press as a ‘‘plan of destruction by
forces of political destabilization’.

The fires, timed to commemorate Aug. 4, 1936 when a fascist
dictatorship was established in Greece, were set by fascist sym-
pathizers demanding the release of junta leaders jailed since the
1967-1974 right-wing coup in the country.

The fires, in mainland cities and several Greek islands set the
entire country ablaze. Hundreds of thousands of acres of timber,
olive trees and crops were destroyed. Residential and industrial
areas were aflame. As fire fighters with the help of the people
were trying to extinguish the flames, new fires broke out — all
taking place after dark when fire fighting is most difficult.

The government hinted the fires were accidental, while opposi-
tion parties, including the Communist Party of Greece charged it
with an organized cover-up. This charge was made more credible
by the public admission of responsibility for the fires by a right-
wing group. :

Inacall on the government to take swift action, the Communist
Party of Greece pointed out that all evidence shows the fires were
not accidental but were ‘‘well-organized political acts by ele-
ments trying to achieved political destabilization.’ "~~ 7”

The CPG said the government ‘‘bears tremendous respon-
sibility at a time when these fires were causing unprecedented
losses to the national economy and great concern and anxiety
among the people.”’

World air controllers’ body
meets over U.S. air safety

Citing dangerous conditions in U.S. skies, air
controllers in several countries have reacted by
refusing to clear U.S. aircraft, causing chaos in
airline scheduling. é

The international actions were taken last week
in response to the Reagan administration’ s firing of
12,000 U.S. air controllers and their replacement
with military, retired and supervisory personnel.
The U.S. controllers, members of the Professional
Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO)
were dismissed for refusing to return to work prior
to their demands being negotiated. ;

In an unheard-of anti-union action, leaders were
jailed, the bulk of the members fired and millions of
dollars in fines levied against PATCO.

Despite administration claims that U.S. skies
were safe, PATCO spokesmen charged the
government was ‘“‘playing Russian roulette’ with
passenger safety.

Canadian air controllers last week, claiming they
had monitored 41 near misses since the firings,
refused to handle U.S. flights. Eighty-five per cent
of U.S. traffic on Aug. 10 was halted according to
Transport Canada. :

Canadian Air Traffic Controllers Association
president Bill Robertson told the press his mem-
bers are entitled under the Aeronautics Act to in-
sist on safe flying conditions. The Canadian action
was particularly significant because all U.S. traffic
from Europe is controlled for a period from air
centres at Gander, Newfoundland and Moncton,
New Brunswick.

Controllers in New Zealand and Australia also 3

voted Aug. 10 not to handle U.S. traffic. Control-

lers in Britain, France, Spain Portugal and Israel.

were considering what action to take. « -

The Geneva-based International Federation of
Air Traffic Controllers said they believed. more

countries would join the boycott and said that the .

Federation would consider further steps at its Aug.
13-14 executive meeting in Amsterdam.

team’s job, Robertson said: “‘It is my understand:

OPTS

PATCO Chicago controllers. i

In mid-week developments, following a lengthy,
meeting between CATCA and Transport Ministel
Jean-Luc Pepin, Canadian air controllers agreed t0
return to work following the setting up of a joint
fact-finding team to monitor flights crossing thé
U.S.-Canadian border.

Despite continued assertions by Pepin that US:
skies are safe, CATCA president Robertson re
peated his union’s claim that evidence shows thé
opposite. Commenting on the joint fact-finding

ing that if the deficiencies are serious enough, the
(Transport) department is prepared to considef
actions up to and including closing selected pol
tions of the border ...” a
The government was handed a setback in it
efforts to use the courts against the union whe?
Federal court judge James Jerome refused to grant
an immediate injunction which would have im
posed fines and jail terms on controllers refusing ©
service U.S.-bound flights. Jerome questions the
government's claim that such refusal could be con
sidered strike activity. A ruling is expected Aug:

In the U.S., the White House moved ahead with
its determination to decertify PATCO, and
government lawyers are pressing the courts to seé: k
millions in séttlements against the union. To daté
11,000 pink slips have been issued to U.S. co
trollers.

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS

By TOM MORRIS |

they must build a bridge be- ° ‘being rounded up by security

Véronique, smoked salmon

Biased zealots
and reality

The Reagan administra-
tion's eight-month record. has
been one dismal shock after
another .n international affairs.
But the overall picture of
marching where angels fear to
tread is becoming all too clear.

Beginning with an open at-
tack on.‘‘Soyiet terrorism’’,

“and the adoption of the biggest
peacetime arms budget ‘ever,
to the latest insanity of building
the neutron warhead, the
Reagan team appears hell-bent
to carry us to the brink.

An interesting (and some-
what frightening) overview of
the new U.S. administration is
given in Time magazine by a
leading Soviet expert in U.S.
affairs, Georgi Arbatov:

“The people who have
come to power (in the U.S.) are
more ideological than almost
any in the past,’ he is quoted.
‘*Many of them hate us blindly.
I'm not necessarily talking

about the top level, but at the

next level there are biased
zealots with rather low intel-
lectual capacities at-that . . . the
whole thing is tremendously
Orwellian.

“TI don’t know how close
these people are to the presi-

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—AUG. 21, 1981—Page 6

dent. As for Haig, some Euro-

- peans talk about him as the

only politically literate, ex-
perienced and dependable man
in the U.S. government night
now. I just don’t know. If
they’re right, then we’ re really
badly off. Step by step, almost
everything Haig has said and
done has been to destroy what
small amount of trust remains

And that was said before the
neutron decision.

Arbatov goes on to em-
phasize that he hasn't lost all
hope. ‘‘These people in

Washington may yet discover

HAIG: Marching where angels
fear to tread.

tween their gut feelings and re-
ality. Politics is still the art of
the possible.”’

That’s a pretty grim assess- ~

ment, but a realistic one. It

shouldn’t be lost on Canada as

we watch our foreign policy
mirror that of the Reaganteam.

The neutron decision should
bring a stepped-up response
demanding this country take

the road toward peace, détente -

and disarmament. The it’s-
none-of-our-business reaction
by MacGuigan from his holi-
day spot in PEI just doesn’t
wash. .

Picture of a
‘reasonable’ regime

Even the pretense of
*‘liberalization’’ of South Afri-
ca’s apartheid regime seemed
to have disappeared in smoke
last week as Prime Minister
Botha publicly returned to the
hard line.

Under attack by some MPs
in South Africa’s parliament,

Botha rejected any chance that ©

the country’s 19.8 million
Blacks (71.5% of the popula-
tion) would get the vote. As
Botha talked, hundreds of Af-
ricans in Cape Town were

forces for transport to ‘‘black
homelands’’.

Botha did, however, prom-.
ise to look into relaxing the
country’s laws to permit the
serving of alcohol to all races at
sporting events. And there, it
seems, is what apologists for
apartheid are talking about
when they say the regime is
becoming more reasonable.

Nothing to offer,
but he eats well

Fresh from his meeting with
Reagan at the White House
(where he dined on royal squab

aboard the Royal

Red OO LER eee

and peach’ mousse cardinal)
Egypt’s Anwar Sadat flew
home to another free meal
yacht
Britannia where: he greeted a

recently-married — young
couple. .
As his country groans under

its backwardness and mount-
ing military burdens and
Egypt’s neighbors struggle
daily against Israeli expansion-

ism and terror bombings, .

Sadat persues his course from
1600 Pennsylvannia Avenue to
the staterooms of the Britan-
nia.

It brings to mind the old line
about clowns and princes ...

a