Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 10, 1994, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press january editorials editor John 6977044 spooked by a madman since the russian nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirik Nevsky is irrational and thoroughly opposed to Freedom and it is Odd that the Heads of government of the North Atlantic treaty organization Are letting him dictate their policy on expansion of the they should base their attitude to Hungary and the czech Republic on the merits of the Case and not on what they think a loudmouthed madman in Moscow will think about what they courageous bul rumanian and albanians Rose up against communist Rule in the often at great Cost to and kicked the communists out of they abolished the Warsaw pact and the com econ which had kept their military forces and their economies under soviet control for most of the postwar East germans won the Lon sought reunification of their they now enjoy participation in the Western european economic sys tem and they enjoy the Security guarantee of nato protecting them against military czechs and hungarians Are now asking for admission to nato but Here the nato Heads of government hesitate for fear of irritating Zhirik Nevsky and weakening the political position of russian president Boris they will extend the hand of Friendship to Hungary and the czech but they will not extend the Security what this will do to the democratic forces in Hungary and the czech Republic they do not seem to what effect it will have on natos credibility As a bastion of democracy is something they should president Bill explaining his policy last said he did not want to create a new Iron curtain in Europe by drawing a new dividing the Rise of a Mirinovsky concerned one Way to Calm russian a he was by not extending nato up to the polish russian there Are several dividing lines in Europe the line at the moment ensures that All nato members will de fend Turkey and Greece if they Are attacked but will not necessarily defend Hungary or the czech the hungarians and czechs find that a poor in Yeltsin visited Prague and Warsaw and announced that his government had no objection to nato membership for Poland and the czech Whir Inovskis candidates out polled Yeltsin in the de Cember elections in giving him about on fifth of the seats in the Duma and Yeltsin has been asking the nato countries not to make life tougher for him by responding to the pleas from Warsaw and Buda if a Mirinovsky can frighten Clinton and his Al lies away from supporting their friends and allies in Cen trial Europe just by losing an he is a powerful Man the a communists Are the largest Force in the polish parliament at the moment and natos policy encourages poles to believe they have been assigned to the russian sphere of influence by a combination of threats from Moscow and Usilla Nimitz in the they deserve a warmer aboriginal charter death of the Charlottetown and Meech Lake accords almost certainly put an end to the dream of self gov Ern ment for native least for the imme Diate but the Royal commission on aboriginal of which has now finished its consultation with canadians in 112 communities across the can do More for Canadas native people than any set of Signa Tures on a piece of studying aboriginal issues is hardly Manitoba aboriginal Justice inquiry took three and a half years to research and write a thorough study of Manitoba native its recommendations have been largely ignored by the Filmon the new Royal commission need not spend too much time sorting through the constitutional let the politicians worry about that when the country can stomach another round of National much More and equally Are the problems of educational land and resource control and George the Dene Leader who is co chair of the has promised his report will be a practical if Erasmus and his fellow commissioners can help the Winnipeg teenager find the training Neces sary to qualify for a decent if the commissions work leads to economic development on the reserves where Young people now face a desperate life of poverty and if a Royal commission can show governments How traditional ways of life can be sustained in communities where the old ways Are almost then the Mil lion will be a Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Maurice Switzer publisher Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor John Dafoe editorial Page editor directors John Bardawil marketing Craig Barnard circulation de Belhumeur human resources Bill Brian finance Stephan Majorki production Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson newspapers company limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba Rex pm 6977000 a member of the Manitoba press Council no nibs under h the tails wagging the dog what can our generals get away with in their dealings with their new defence minister David Collenette the an can be found in just two almost they can demonstrate their incompetence and receive not so much As a tap on the wrist from the new they can speak for him one Day and Force him to retract what they said the and his Only comment is to de scribe their actions As timely and entirely in the generals have the minis Ter just where they want they have a newcomer who is obviously intimidated by All the brass that sur rounds they have a Man who appears terribly of doing what prime minister Jean Chretien has appointed him to which is to exercise civilian control Over Canadas armed forces if to crack a few Heads to prevent Canadian lives from being thrown away because of carelessness or Lack of sufficient top level interest in what Canadian sol Diers Are being asked to Canadian history already has too Many military disasters in if Collenette he can reverse one of the worst defence decisions taken by the previous conservative govern which was to involve Canada As a major player in the United nations operations in the former in that the United nations is Nei ther peacekeeping nor there is no peace to the euro Pean countries which should make peace in their own Back Yard will not do of the Cost to themselves in human the United states wisely declines to become having bloodied itself in one humanitarian Relief operation in a place it intends to vacate next Canadas commitment to the in in Bosnia expires in prime minister Jean obviously stung by the outcry Over recent has hinted that it May be time to Stop being the worlds boy before the prime minister Collenette said exactly the in anything he Fred Cleverley has said indicates that Canada will be exposing its Young men and women to needless danger As Long As one in bureaucrat still Calls what we Are doing is Collenette speaking for the Canadian or is he speaking for the generals who have in an excuse to protect their own jobs and to once a realistic review of what Canada needs in the Way of an a Navy and an air Force in 1994 to find the we should look at what on december 11 canadians were taken prisoner by Drunken bosnian roughed in some cases struck with Rifle Butts and had shots fired around a Story in the new York times said the 11 were lined up against a Wall and subjected to a mock execution with the bullets going Over their the minister did not get an official report to read until a week by which time Canadian generals had been mostly trying to ridicule the newspaper saying that Only not 11 canadians were involved and that the matter was so trivial that it had been dismissed As pressed for the generals then reluctantly admitted that in 11 canadians were involved and brigadier general Barry Ashton at a news conference Canadian sol this is a War zone Why Are canadians there Diers were lined against a Wall and fire was opened around the following Day another news con Ference was held with Collenette he also tried to downplay the newspaper apparently unaware that one of his own generals had talked about canadians being lined up against a the minister said there was no and that the Only shots fired were directed at the then Collenette said the incident was routine and did not appear significant enough to have warranted inform ing him or the he announce a special parliamentary de Bate on defence when the House of commons is called into session and he announced that Canadas ambassador to the United nations has been told to make sure that protests about this event were registered at the highest either what happened was Rou and should be or it was significant and requires full debate and International Collenette kept hopping Over the routine he mentioned that four British soldiers were treated the same Way and that a French Soldier was killed the next he said incidents like these Are not uncommon in that Collenette department no longer sends telegrams to inform next of Kin about if it did the words would have to be altered to something like the minister regrets to inform you that your has been killed in you can take Comfort that the death was As a result of a routine Collenette has plenty of generals to talk Canada has More generals than most he should find a few who understand what is happening in who understand that its a dirty Little regional conflict where corruption abounds and where Canada has already done More than its share for the if these generals Tell Collenette to get our troops out of that he should listen even More its much More urgent a matter than reorganizing our armed forces from top to Bottom to make sure All our generals still have a different kind of underclass unbeknownst to most of january slipped in on Little cat feet and brought with it the United nations International year of the of follows the International year of the of aboriginal of the of Wom of the of disabled people the one that kicked it off in of it seems that a cause is not Worth having unless there is a year named after families probably deserve bet Many people will Admire the timing of this coming As it does when Federal and provincial govern ments Are being forced to reexamine All types of family assistance in the country Basic social safety but some of us should still be alarmed at this juxtaposition lets face we Haven a clue what constitutes a successful Canadian family any and because of we Are of ten overwhelmed by some of the ideas and stereotypes that Are blasted at us from the United i was taken Aback some months ago when my favorite Liberal american Robert Sheppard the Atlantic published a Long cover piece that said Dan Quayle was right about the integrity of the family and the dangers of having children out of even if the Mother is someone As estimable As tvs Murphy but the effect this article while pales beside that of the lat est broadside an october article in the Wall Street journal entitled Hie com ing White which is still reverberating among Washington Opin written by conservative academic Charles the article picks up on a warning first made 30 years ago by now senator Daniel who foresaw the disintegration of the Black family in the fact that 26 per cent of All Black babies at that time were born to unwed most of them teenage according to million children a year Are currently being born to unmarried women in the the illegitimacy rate his ugly term for Whites is 22 per most of them Young and uneducated hence the warning about the coming White under for this rate is a staggering 68 per a situation that has led to what Murray Calls a lord of the flies culture writ Large the values of unsocial Zed male adolescents made norms physical immediate gratification and predatory the Force of the Murray argument has gripped even president Bill who told a to inter viewer recently that he Felt it to be essentially but that he want buying All the Mur Ray is recommending the Complete Cut off of All welfare to single mothers to Force More Legal by stigma if he would also lift Many state restrictions on particularly Interra Cial encourage much More social pressure for and have the government spend lavishly on orphanages for the Small proportion of unwanted children who would not be but does this let alone the have any relevance to according to the most recent about 25 per cent of new babies Are born to unmarried a doubling Over the past de Cade before we Start crying about the creation of a Canadian we should remember that a much smaller proportion of these births Are the result of teenage pregnancies there is More accessible birth control and that at least half of these babies More in Quebec Are being born to women in what appear to be stable common Law As statistics Canada reported a few months if both Legal and common Law unions Are marriage is almost As popular now As it was 20 years when the sexual revolution was getting up we May be creating an underclass in this but its not because of in wed mothers or teenage its because of an economic system that has put a perverse value on de fixing the no matter How we might define will not change the Globe and mail ;