Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 29, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free october 1981 7 Moscow is spiked on a dilemma n Poland by Ernest Conine los Angeles times it is hand ringing time within the Atlantic and for Good Rea an avowedly Attinato government been elected in aided and abetted by the periodic outbreak of Foo Tinmouth disease in pacifism and left leaning neutralise Are on the Rise in Northern economic pressures Are sapping even further the ability and willingness of nato governments to reverse the slide toward soviet Mili tary it is a bit too to announce the impending doom of West Ern if we cup our ears and listen we May discover that gnashing of Teeth is even louder among the soviet overseers of the Warsaw twice in the past in Hungary and Czechoslovakia forcible occupation by soviet troops was now the situation in the most strategically placed of russian East european is even Western governments and their for Eig policy establishments have Long been convinced that a serious revolt against soviet control Over Eastern Europe might trigger a series of events that could end in the third world it is interesting to for that sir John British officer and principal author of the chilling the third world used an outbreak of Antis pietism in Poland As one of the factors leading to the fictional soviet attack against Western Europe in 1985 that is imagined in his mix of emotions the fear that just such a scenario could unfold in real life has caused serious people in the West to View the exciting events in Poland with mixed emotions they applaud the extraordinary spectacle of polish workers organizing the first Independent Trade Union in the communist world and seemingly get away with they Are inspired by Solidarity demand for free elections and an end to the communist party monopoly of political but they cannot help but worry that the Bottom line will be not a democratic Poland soviet military action that could into a perilous East West con the concern is but there is reason to question whether the danger is the to be has already Laid the ideological and propaganda groundwork for invoking the Brezhnev which was used to justify the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 in the name of defending social if you take at face value the threatening noises from polish leaders Are now being Given a last Chance to Squash solidary Tys Challenge to communist there is a growing conviction among Western analysts that the having counted recounted the will not use military Force in Poland unless the soviet unions National Security becomes far More directly and genuinely threatened than seems Likely to an invasion would accelerate the military buildup and would Demol ish the currently fashionable among democratic leftists in that the Guys in Black hats Are not russians but presumably it would also interrupt the Access to Western Trade and technology that the faltering soviet Economy so badly world May be safer now whether an invasion occurs or the fact May be that polish by challenging soviet author Ity for reasons having nothing Todo with the military balance in Are actually making the world a safer keep in mind next to the soviet army the polish armed forces Are the strongest in the Warsaw and Are the third largest in All it is hard to say How much Reliance the Kremlin would place on Poland 15 divisions in event of a shooting War with the but the fact that the polish and other East european armed forces Are armed to the Teeth with modern weapons and equipment suggests that they Are assigned an important if you subtract the polish forces from the Warsaw the arithmetic of the East West military balance changes with that in think what a Nightmare the idea of militarily crush ing the democratic movement in Poland must be to the men in the Krem the russians could expect no help from the polish on the they have to assume that a Large number of polish soldiers would Point their guns at the invaders instead of at rebellious polish Western analysts believe that the soviets would need men and even then could subdue the country Only after a bloody Little War lasting for weeks or even for years to a Large and expensive soviet occupation Force would be tied Down in and therefore unavailable for other nato sleeping Pill with this sort of situation existing in a country that lies athwart the military Supply and communications lines that Are vital to the soviet unions ability More focus on Page 8 either to defend its own territory or to attack the nato generals would surely sleep that the russians have decided that an invasion of Poland would be what else can they do the polish regimes current efforts to turn Back the tide by arresting Solidarity militants and Banning strikes almost certainly will produce nothing but More Militancy and More disruptive the regime is threatening to use polish troops to suppress Demontra so that the soviet army will not have to do the but it is Uncertain As in the How Many polish troops Are prepared to fire at polish the soviet As a major Credi Tor and Trade has enormous economic and is Likely to use polish invasion could Burden it but to what Avail More than a year of strikes and political upheaval have left the polish Economy just Short of although they disagree on Solidarity and moderate communist leaders share a desire to get the Economy moving if they Are to they clearly need help both from the soviet Union and from Western russians with vast new there is a that the russians May contrive to keep the polish Economy hovering somewhere just above collapse in Hopes that the anger of the polish people will eventually turn against Solidarity As the cause of their the trouble such a strategy would be economically costly to the soviet Union and its communist allies be cause a limping polish Economy could not Supply Coal and other nor could it pay for worse a strategy of economic denial could misfire mounting anger Over food shortages could erupt into bloody ant soviet an eventuality that might make military intervention if the soviet Union fails to Stop Solidarity momentum toward a dem less subservient example could spread to other East european thereby threaten ing the very foundations of soviet everything soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev would probably be willing to Trade his problems for those facing Ronald Reagan and the Western Ernest Conine is a times editorial Romania stalls Canadian firms by John Best special to the free press Ottawa years Canada announced the Sale of a 600me Candy nuclear Power reactor to four months it announced that Romania had agreed to Purchase a second so Canadian companies have not tied up a single contract to Supply components for either the snails Pace of negotiations is a disappointment to the Canadian nuclear which had been counting on the business with communist ruled Romania to help make the Candy a seller in world until now the reactor has not done at All finding buyers in Only a Small handful of when the second agreement with Romania was announced on july James president of Crown owned atomic Energy of Canada predicted that manufacturing orders would be placed by Romania in the next four at stake Are More than million of being sought by about 50 to provide components for the sensitive reactor the installations at cer 50 Miles from Romanias Black sea will Cost around romanian enterprises Are to do most of the Shell Ameri can and italian firms Are to Supply the turbines and despite vigorous sales efforts by the Canadian no deals have yet been said Don Secretary of the organization of Andu industries asked in an interview whether the companies Are starting to feel frustrated Over the he replied you better believe some firms had sent representatives to Bucharest six or seven times to bargain for contracts each time the representatives returned empty hand asked whether the covering agree ments Between Canada and Romania were in danger of Douglas replied that is a difficult ques m he that the signs Are better than they and that some orders for major components could come through Early in the new for Many Canadian the scramble for contracts goes Back two to november when in response to requests from they bid on contracts for the first but no contracts were Ever let for the first Romania apparently decided Early on to make sure it could get the second reactor on acceptable terms before it shelled out Money for the strapped for hard the romanians also began to drive a harder bargain on payment last year they weighed in with a demand that the Canadian firms Purchase romanian goods equivalent to what would spend in Canada for nuclear for most of the companies con that was like changing the rules Midway through the and i presented a Challenge Well outside their Romania is supposed to Purchase the components under a billion line of credit extended three years ago by Canadas Export development designed to cover As Many As four but it says it must sell goods to Canada to offset the or most of it is not possible Only to buy from said Emilian vice president of the romanian state com Mittee for nuclear in a recent Bucharest it is also Neces sary to sell the suppliers Are being asked to help Romania Market a variety of from machine tools and electric motors to clothing and baby in Canada or other Western such bar Ter Type or counter Are common in Romanias for eign the Canadian nuclear through agreed to accept Romani an products Worth a Small percentage of the Purchase Price of the Compo but they have to be compete says otherwise there is no the suppliers have also agreed to contribute to the establishment of a Romania Canadian Clearing House which would help find markets for the romanian but it is not Clear just How this is going to work if the middlemen do not succeed in they could try there Are brokers and commission houses in Europe that specialize in moving produce involved in counter Trade in buying the Candy from Canada Romania is not Only securing a new Energy source for itself it is also laying the foundation for a whole romanian based altogether the country of 21 million plans to build 14 to 16 Candus before the end of the with a declining rate of Canadian we will build More and More of the starting with the least rated and gradually moving to the More said maybe with the fourth or fifth most of the equipment will be produced in our John a former Moscow correspondent for Canadian is an Otta abased freelance journalist who recently returned from a reporting tour of Eastern both tories and new democrats want to provide a better Quality of life for the people of despite that common the Basic philosophical differences Are becoming More through their various proposals and underlined by the activities of the As Sterling Lyon has at tempted a statesmanlike often removed from the everyday aggravations of a he has soared in another descending Only occasionally to address wellor Gani Zed gatherings or make announce ments at regulated news in the first two weeks of the Cam he attended the premiers meet ing on the Constitution in Montreal and spent several More Days concentrating on regular government with sporadic appearances at Nomi nation meetings and constituency Gath Only this week did he go out on nhe but would soon return to the National Arena for another encounter with the prime it is a valid attempt to create the image of a Leader More concerned about the people than his own political Howard on the other floes not have the same except for a Day or two in his Selkirk he has been con stantly on the visiting constituent under the dome Arlene Billinkoff cies where he listens to the concerns of others and provides promises for a brighter those promises Range from the Gen eral indication of a government which would work with Small help Farmers survive the interest rate crisis and improve the Quality of life in Small towns and the to specific items such As million for the establish ment of a provincial Crown Corpora to explore for Oil and the addition of million to modernize Manitoba forestry resources and the reintroduction of rent Lyon does not make such and in fact takes pleasure in pointing out previous nip spending sprees with Public of there Are the tory Meg projects aluminium Potash Western Power Grid and resumption of Hydro work at Limestone but they have already been announced Many times and should not be considered As election or should they was it Mere coincidence that in the Middle of the there was a formal news conference to announce completion of a significant step in negotiations for the Western Power Grid according to officials for Saskatchewan and Alberta had unanimously recommended that the draft agreement on the Grid be considered by the respective and on that Manitoba would begin to plan for the resumption of Hydro work on the it would Cost More than that sounded but Saskatchewan Premier Allan Blakeney insisted no interim agreement had been reached and it would not be possible until the governments reviewed All the Pawley was understandably sceptical about the announcement and was certain it was merely the first of he was the next Day Lyon told another news conference that Inco would build an million expansion of Nickel mining operations at that was not a because Inco officials were saying the same thing in but even Lyon admitted that rather than creating new this move would merely retain existing nevertheless he saw this action As one More confirmation of the tory approach to the with such positive developments one might have expected a buoyant group of tory supporters at Lyons Nomina instead it was a rather Over staged with loud recorded about 150 supporters including numerous party officials and nine candidates were crowded into a school auditorium which had been Cut in half with a dividing because of the Lack of at least 40 people were forced to giving the impression of a much larger group to those watching the event on Televik the closeness of the air had a negative producing Only occasional it was a very controlled performance As the Premier offered his hit the opposition and recited the Virtues of his form of doonesbury government and the either complacent or remained relatively Hawleys nomination had a totally different was highly but there was a More positive instead of being the 260 including 20 candidates and various party faithful from other parts of the sat comfortably in a school they were entertained by a Learned the words to a party listened to Lively introductory speeches and even doled out More than when the hat was by the time Pawley led by a Bagpiper and accompanied by his Fame the audience was already on a bursts of applause underlined various phrases of the leaders even though the people had already heard the message about How the Dps Active involvement and Tough Concrete action would help turn around the problems caused by tory broken prom sellouts and economic despite the there was a spirit which had been absent from the tory the of Are trying to hold on to what they and As government must appear to be More while the new democrats have the Freedom available Only to those who Are out of it is up to the voters to decide which approach is Momas Kep wokkspa00ut son if wow Femy a Bap skfoki5 and never Hap any Fason to comp Tain its w and that ;