Fe

World

Progress in arms
talks seen as U.S.,
USSR summit nears

MOSCOW — Negotiations
are developing well in most
areas, and there is a solid
chance that an accord on dras-
tically cutting strategic nuclear
arsenals will be ready to sign at
the upcoming Reagan-Gorba-
chev Moscow summit in May
or June, both U.S. Secretary
of State George Shultz and
Soviet Foreign Minister Ed-
uard Shevardnadze told press
conferences here last week.

The two days of intensive
talks between foreign minis-
ters, which also included a
lengthy session with Shultz
and Soviet leader Gorbachev,
produced no_ breakthroughs
but left both sides expressing
satisfaction over the rate of
progress.

At the end of the discus-
sions, on Feb. 22, Shultz and
Shevardnadze met separately
with the press — a common
practice — but drew essen-
tially similar pictures. Shultz
came first, spoke tersely and
answered few questions, but
was in time to make the even-
ing papers and news shows in
America. Shevardnadze, ad-
dressing reporters some hours
later, was far better organized
and, in a protracted question-
and-answer period, displayed
so much charm and humour
that journalists momentarily
forgot themselves and accord-
ed him a round of applause at
the end.

Both sides agreed that a
framework and methodology
leading to a Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty (START)
are now firmly in place, but
both stressed that an enor-
mous amount of work re-
mains. “The devil is <in the

’ details,” quipped Shultz.

Verification is the “critical
path” item now, in Shultz’s
view, and negotiators in Gen-
eva have been instructed to
draw up a protocol on this
subject before the next Shultz-
Shevardnadze meeting takes
place in Washington March
22-23.

Shevardnadze agreed on the
importance of verification. He
emphasized that the basic phi-
losophical premise of the
talks — for sharp cuts in stra-
tegic nuclear weapons, leaving
a condition of equal secur-
ity — appears to be mutually
accepted. However, he added
that the Soviet Union con-
tinues to have serious concerns
about the ABM treaty (though,
he said, it now seems likely
that the two sides will ulti-
mately agree on a formula of
non-withdrawal from the treaty
for a period of nine or 10
years). There are also unre-
solved questions concerning
the disposition of air-and-sea-
launched cruise missiles and
mobile inter-continental mis-

8 « Pacific Tribune, March 2, 1988

SHEVARDNADZE

siles within the framework of
START, and about the struc-
ture and configuration of the
nuclear forces that will remain
to the two sides following
implementation of the treaty.

“After sober assessment of
all these, we have concluded
that there are no unresolvable
problems, though there are
major outstanding differen-
ces,” said Shevardnadze.

Soviet-U.S. differences in
approach to the Mideast crisis
continue to be obvious. Gor-
bachev described the USS.
position on this subject as
inconsistent, and reiterated the
Soviet view that an interna-
tional peace conference be
convened under United Nat-
ions auspices which would
involve all parties concerned,
including the PLO.

On Afghanistan, both the
U.S. and Soviet sides expressed
the hope that the next round of
talks in Geneva to settle the
conflict would be the last
round. The Soviet side ex-
pressed disappointment at the
U.S. decision to forge ahead
with production of binary
chemical weapons which, it
argued, blocks the adoption of
a chemical weapons’ ban.
However, proposals were ad-
vanced in this area which
could be discussed at the
summit.

The Soviet side also ex-
pressed concern over NATO
efforts to “compensate” for
the INF treaty by a build-up of
tactical battlefield nuclear
arms. This, Gorbachev warn-
ed, will only devalue the INF
treaty.

Following the raising of
human rights concerns by
both sides, agreement was
reached that experts in the
field would get together to
explore the issues. The U.S.,
however, remains cool to the
Soviet idea for holding a full-
scale human rights conference
in Moscow.

With files from Fred Weir
and APN.

Panama under pressure
as U.S. policy challenged

The recent strained relations
between Panama and the United
States have brought into focus
both the Reagan administration’s
imperialist attitude towards the
Panama canal zone and its plans to
de-stabilize both the Panamanian
and Nicaraguan governments.

On Feb. 10 the Panamanian
Foreign Ministry called for the
expulsion of the 10,000 U.S. troops
of the Southern Command based
in Panama.

Troops of the Southern Com-
mand, which direct all American
military activities in Central and
South America, are reported to
have flown spy missions to aid the
contras and the Duarte regime in
El Salvador. The Panamanian
Foreign Ministry said the canal
treaties authorize the U.S. to
defend only the canal and not to
maintain .a military base with
which to interfere in international
affairs.

In early February, a Florida
grand jury indicted Gen. Manuel
Antonio Noriega, chief of Pana-
ma’s military forces, on drug
charges. Noriega responded by
charging that the Reagan adminis-
tration is conducting a campaign
to force him out of office and that
the U.S. troops in Panama repres-
ent a “threat to national defence.”
On Feb. 7, Noriega told CBS-TV’s
60 Minutes that the Reagan admin-
istration had begun a campaign to
get rid of him because he had

Noriega joins marchers in Panama as the U.S. applies pressure to

put Panama in line.

refused to accept then-National
Security Advisor. John Poindex-
ter’s scheme to involve Panama in
an invasion of Nicaragua.

According to Noriega, during a
December, 1985 visit, Poindexter
urged that Panamanian forces
serve as an invasion spearhead, to
be followed by a main U.S. inva-
sion force. Noriega also charged
that Poindexter pressured him to
withdraw Panama from the Con-
tadora group of nations seeking a
negotiated solution.to the crisis in
Central America.

Noriega said the U.S. was also
planning to renege on the 1977
treaty, signed by then-President
Jimmy Carter, to relinquish com-
plete control of Panama by the
year 2000.

Panama called the Southern
Command “a warlike offensive

organization with continental
reach.” It said its presence “vio-_
lates Article 11 of the Treaty of

Neutrality, which guarantees that

the Panama isthmus will not be a
target of reprisals of any armed
conflict between other nations of
the world.” 2 |

The Reagan administration con- _
tends that it is not in violation of
any treaty and that it has no inten-
tion of pulling its troops out of
Panama. Noriega responded by
saying the drug charges are merely
part of a campaign to remove him
from office because he has refused
to go along with U.S. foreign pol-
icy in the region. Noriega warned
that other Central American lead-
ers who went against U:S. wishes
could expect similar treatment.

With files from the People’s Daily
World.

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS

Tom Morris:

The fallen
spellbinder

One problem with setting
yourself up as Keeper of The
Morals is the difficulty encoun-
tered when it’s discovered that
you put your shoes on one at a
time.

Pentecostal preacher Jimmy
Swaggart just found this out.

As head of the $142-million
yearly Jimmy Swaggart Minis-
tries based in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, the Bayou Spel-
Ibinder brought forth the evi-
dence last year against fellow
televangelist, PTL’s Jim Bakker,
forcing his resignation from the
lucrative ministry.

Bakker’s sin was adultery;
first he “sinned” with a church
secretary and then used $265,000
of the flock’s cash as hush
money to keep her quiet.

Swaggart pilloried Bakker
mercilessly. From king of PTL’s
$203-million empire, Bakker
quickly found himself unem-
ployed and in disgrace.

Swaggart was unyielding.

repeated, there can be no half-
measures. Amen!

When it comes to mortal sin, he °

Jimmy Swaggart also runs a
tight financial ship. His board of
directors is composed of him-
self, his wife, his son, his
daughter-in-law, his lawyer and
four pals. Seventeen other rela-
tives are on the payroll.

He pays himself $86,000 a
year. His wife and son receive
$50,000 each annually. In 1985
he “borrowed” $2 million from
ministry funds to build three

SWAGGART

luxury homes. (Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney calls such
home improvement loans an
“advance”’.)

And so, soldiering in the ser-
vice of God, it seems, isn’t all
self-sacrifice.

But it all ended this month
amid oceans of tears of repent-
ance. The Keeper of The Mor-
als, too, had sinned. The Bayou
Spellbinder turns out to be a
common John.

The media’s
death watch

The U.S. beating up small,
virtually defenseless Nicaragua | |
is repulsive in itself. The disrup-
tion, deaths and distortion of
the economy are devastating.
Washington is determined to
ruin the country’s economy and
break the people’s spirit.

And there’s a sadistic division
of labour in this deadly work:

While the U.S. pursues the
contra war, forcing an impover-
ished land to deplete its human
and economic resources, bleed-
ing it to death, the American
free press gloats at the results:
“Since 1979 ... much of the
country’s economic and indus-
trial infrastructure has fallen
into ruin,” gloats Time maga-
zine. ‘““Many trappings of 20th
century life ... are declining or
vanishing,” it writes, listing
shortages and the government’s
desperate efforts to cope.

According to this media, —
“Marxism” — not U.S.-organ-
ized war, sabotage and block-.
ade —are to blame. The vic-
tim, we’re told, is self-destr-
uctive.

|