Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 13, 1979, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free june 1979 7 focus for ailing Brezhnev the Vienna which begins May be the last Hurrah for soviet president Leonid Brezhnev and an unlikely successor is emerging in a Kremlin Power on his last legs physically and could be dumped by his Kremlin associates soon after the Salt ii treaty is signed and the struggle for the succession is already tearing apart the politburo in to says widely known Kreml nolo Gist Victor in this first of two by Victor Zorza the possibility that soviet president Leonid Brezhnev might suddenly col lapse in the Middle of the Summit talks with Jimmy when the two meet in Vienna on june is not ruled out entirely by Western intelligence analysts who have been following care fully the dramatic deterioration of his health in the past year or Brezhnev doctors can fill him with drugs to enable him to function reasonably Well in Public from time to but far More worrying for the Carter White House is the Prospect of what might happen politically in the so Viet Union once Brezhnev As he must go soon whether he is dumped by his Kremlin or goes of his own struggle for Power no Man can survive for Long at the top of the Kremlin however Loyal and skillful his aides May unless he is physically Able to Cope with the pressures generated by the con tending factions which constantly manoeuvre in the subterranean struggle for these forces Are now mass ing for the struggle for the the White House has taken that into account in devising its strategy for dealing with the As president Carters National Security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski said in a recent speech commending Salt the newly negotiated strategic arms limitation we Are concerned not Only about the soviet Union of but during the next several years the soviet Union will Brzezinski concedes that we cannot predict the character of the new Lead or All the major aspects of future soviet for that is a reason for pressing ahead with Salt As rapidly As but for including some of the major critics of this provides a Good reason for going especially As they fear the unpredictable changes which Brzezinski predicts might happen much sooner than in several they May be wrong in using that As a reason to oppose but they Are certainly right in suspecting that some thing is stirring under the outwardly smooth surface of Kremlin the Man who has been generally assumed to be Brezhnev chosen successor for his own key Post of the party general Andrei is in Seri Ous at Kirilenko is Only three months older than his but he is in excellent health and is full of his trouble is to mind the store Kirilenko moved into the position of heir apparent several years when it became Clear that Brezhnev is health was beginning to deteriorate and that someone would have to mind the store during his increasingly frequent absences from the Kirilenko shared his duties As a Standin with Mikhail the party chief Idolo whose own Uncertain health and even More advanced age he is 76 had ruled him out of the Premier Alexei is similarly it was the inner Polit buro which consists of these four Mem Bers known As the ruling Geron Toracy that evidently decided that Kirilenko was the Man Best fitted to guard its political legacy against the ambitions of the younger men whose hot breath it can feel on its collective but As party Secretary responsible for the party organization and for used his colleagues Trust to strengthen his own personal position and to push through the poli cies he it was the demotion earlier this year of one of Kirilenko chief Yakov the party Secretary is Konstantin Chernenko destined to become one of the worlds most powerful men responsible for the arms that provided the key clue to what was with his dismissal As party some of the earlier signs of trouble at the top began to fall into a distinct Rabovs dismissal was accompanied by a sweetener As signing him to the Post of first Deputy chairman of the state plan Ning but the Post from which he had been removed was far More Power it had also been More directly involved in the most important policy Issue now in dispute in As in Washington that the soviet dispute is hidden deep below the but it is Well established that some of the military and their supporters in the politburo have never shared Brezhnev enthusiasm for when senators travelled to Moscow recently to discuss the Salt issues with soviet they found that some of the toughest arguments were not by the few soviet military they were Al Lowed to one of the top soviet officers responsible for strategic arms policy and for Mikhail Koz first Deputy chief of the general indicated that he was unhappy about some of the soviet concessions to the United his implied argument was that the soviet Union ought not to agree As soviet Salt negotiators have agreed to reduce its icbms Force by 250 mis who ranked on the Gen eral staff As second Only to the most powerful soviet military chief of staff Nikolai was shunted off last month to a teaching Post in a military had Kozlov spoken out too strongly against some of the provisions of Salt ii enter Chernenko had another string to his when he began to climb the ladder to supreme Power in the Early he acquired a constant assistant and confidant in he person of Konstantin then a minor propaganda official in after Brezhnev had replaced Khrushchev in 1964 and had consolidated his he put four years his in the backroom Job of supervising the general affairs depart ment of the party Headquarters which meant that his Man Friday would know everything that was going Chernenko was not Only in a Posi Tion to warn Brezhnev of any political moves or policies that might endanger his but he was also to counter such for he had Brezhnev authority behind Chernenko was still Only an an executor of Brezhnev not a policymaker in his own but three years at about the time that the Brezhnev Kirilenko rift seems to have Chernenko was made one of the party key Secre a position which carries important policy next Chernenko became a candidate Mem Ber of the and was now Able to attend its sessions and take part in its debates in his own right while also retaining his role As the manager of the politburo but As a Candi Date he was still precluded from Vot it was during the past year that Chernenko has made the most rapid and most spectacular Rise of any past aspirant to a top leadership Posi he has often appeared with virtually As an on Well photographed Public occasions which were prominently featured on television and in the these were followed by some striking reports of How comrades Brezhnev and Cher Nenko had said some Wise things when they saw local notables on a visit to the or How they had been welcomed by foreign leaders on a joint trip such coupling of Brezhnev name with that of another party official was at the end of last year it was All made Chernenko was made full Mem Ber of the the hierarchical Alexei Kosygin symbols used by the soviet press to indicate the relative standing of Polit buro members were manipulated to convey an astonishing Mes the most Junior Mem Ber of the had jumped Over All his associates except the ruling Geron Toracy and taken up position 5 in the official order of precedence behind and right next to Chernenko has Long been a member of the old at he is also a member of the ruling buildup for Chernenko the soviet press does not usually report personal but suddenly the soviet propaganda machine made sure that hints and allusions regarding Chernenko were prominently reported in the it was All part of the attempt to build Chernenko up in the eyes of second level party officials As the Man who was already More than Halfway to winning the struggle for the and to help create a bandwagon effect among the control of the propaganda machine is As important in a soviet Leader ship contest As the ability to Pur Chase unlimited television time is in an Mikhail Suslov american election if Brezhnev and Chernenko were in Complete we would not be allowed to see in the soviet press the telltale signs of the Power struggle which make it Clear that the Issue is still nor would we be Given the glimpses of policy differences which suggest the existence of opposition to Brezhnev on the terms of Salt in earlier soviet debates about for Brezhnev denounced unnamed sceptics who thought that disarmament was an unrealistic promo and he sought to build up Public support for his policies by painting tempting pictures of the abundance of consumer goods that would be made possible by reduced defence expend the refrain was taken up by his propagandists in the soviet but this proved to be too much for the soviet they lashed out in the army newspaper red Star at certain immature and politically shortsighted though still unnamed individuals who thought that detente would Leonid Brezhnev permit a slackening of our military the backlash proved and the argument to which the military objected largely disappeared from leadership but it has now reappeared in a speech made by Chernenko in his old Baili where it was prominently reported in the local by the time the speech had reached where pravda devoted five columns to the someone High in the Leader ship must have objected to Cher Nenekos use of the politically sensitive his Promise of the benefits which the Domestic Economy would derive from arms cuts was censored out of the pravda thus showing that the whole which is closely linked with Salt is still very much a matter of dispute in the next the new generation of soviet copyright c Vinlof there is no shame in Beer skit land the Beer skits types have confirmed the worst about them their affliction is More serious than Ever thought possible its a Case of acute As Well As chronic aggravated by a premature hardening of the thought Fred and acute sexism is not the new girl in the having tweaked a few noses with last fridays column on the last four Days have been spent fending off some of the More Rabid male elements of the Winnipeg press listening to them its apparent their condition is serious if not incur one would have hoped the offending sexist attitudes once pointed the Media boys would see the error of their ways and seek Alice Krueger but there is no far from they dont even recognize there is a problem in their in their sexism is a source of Pride to the boys would like to Brush off All critics As a Bunch of raving women not a number of men have expressed their outrage As men like Grant a local Engineer and unsuccessful he wrote this week after seeing a copy of the lampooned version of people Magazine produced by the male members of the Winnipeg press club for their annual Beer and skits describing the publication As incredibly Tichenko observed that Margaret Trudeau was the Only woman in the Magazine who had her clothes and it want even Slick or Well he he help but wonder Why is such a hit and who pays for what would a motivate the great West life and a Host of others to risk their corporate names and buy ads or donate time to such a he if the press club is forced to survive on these types of corporate can they be trusted to report news items on these companies objectively is it possible for a journalist who sup ports to properly cover a Story relating to women perhaps there Are no favors being done and these companies honestly believe that such ads will improve their company images and their Bank a the 60 companies that placed the Worth of ads can actually claim them on their income while this Public subsidy to Winnipeg Tell ers of the truth is offensive to some of if these ads were made Public maybe the Economy would for if people knew that Are responsible for More a elicit love affairs than All other airlines their sales might actually another valid Point has been raised by some who questioned Why Public sector corporations placed ads in the six Crown corporations spent an estimated in taxpayers Money to advertise kind of generosity that hard to fathom under the present restraint conscious administration of Sterling maybe the Penn Pinchers Over on Broadway would like to explain that Manitoba Telephone for sex spent of tax Money for its and one Only Hopes that regardless of the bad it will bring some returns for the advertising Dollar and encourage More use of the its Plugin phone their and pictures a woman and two servicemen with the caption see she Doest want Shes Happy with Dick and there must be a better Way to get the message then there is the Manitoba teachers society no doubt a lot of women teachers and men As Well might be surprised to know they helped contrib Ute to the sexist cause by sponsoring an while exact figures we rent immediately its a fair guess that a Large percentage of teachers society members Are some of those women might want to ask a few questions of their executive when the next annual meeting comes maybe even one cant help but heartily endorse the Little rhyme with which Tichenko closes his letter therell always be a press As Long As writers but a Little More wit and a lot less is funnier than you ;