Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 18, 1996, Winnipeg, Manitoba Brian Cole 6977044 focus Winnipeg free press ii March 1996 my end of cold War cools european military democracies drop conscription one sign of the changing times was last january visit by Patri Arch Alexei head of the russian orthodox to the command Centre of russian strategic rocket he came to declare that Saint a Fourt Century would hence Forward be the Patron Saint of Moscow intercontinental nuclear missile As he Barbara will give you dear Brothers and strength and courage in carrying out military service for the glory of our its time for some american politic religious figure like Pat Robert son or Pat Buchanan to go and bless the strategic air cant fall behind in the blessings but whats actually happening to the blessed mis Siles is quite on near the ukrainian town of defence Secretary William russian defence minis Ter Pavel and ukrainian defence minister Valery Samarov pressed three identical buttons to blow up a missile silo whose ss19 ballistic mis Sile used to be aimed at the United it marked the effective end of the Post cold War military All the nuclear weapons that wound up scattered across a dozen new countries Gwynne Dyer when the old soviet Union broke up in 1991 have now been handed Over to rus and Many will be destroyed under arms control treaties signed by the russian armed forces have halved to million two thirds of the american troops who used to be based in Europe have gone Home and some of the smaller nato members have already ended con the last dutch conscripts were called up in the threat of major War in despite the uncertainties attending the june presidential election in is at its lowest ebb in this even if the russians should elect a crazy Man like Vladimir the russian army abysmal performance in Chechnya has convinced most europeans that they would have plenty of time to react before a bigger russian defence budget could produce an army capable of invading military spending worldwide fell 30 per cent Between 1987 and mostly because of the end of the cold but the second round of cuts May be even the end of apartheid and Arab israeli peace treaties Are Only beginning to translate into falling defence spend ing in Southern Africa and the Middle and now the europeans Are starting to abolish Over the past two on the Mainland of it has been the Norm to conscript All the Young men at 18 or thereabouts and put them in uniform for a couple of not just in wartime All the but its finally the latest euro Pean country to announce an end to the draft was where the idea was the French came up with the concept of the nation in arms 203 years during the revolutionary and since then French republics have always enforced until but last month president Jacques Chirac announced that the French armed forces would be Cut from half a million to men and women and conscription will end entirely by the Point is that ground wars in Europe involving huge numbers of soldiers now seem totally so Chirac plans to restructure French forces towards the British Model of a professional army that does most of its fighting out Side during the Gulf we had trouble sending Chirac Frances new professional by con will be organized for rapid deploy ment outside Chirac even in one of the least nationalistic statements Ever emitted by a French president in six years we will have an army which is at least As capable As the Are there a lot of places outside Europe where Paris envisages deploying troops on the contrary the restructuring also seems to involve a wholesale French withdrawal from its Neo colonial military presence in francophone talk of rapid deployment capabilities keeps the defence lobby relatively but the real aim is to save Money at a time when military threats Are almost that is a general operating principle for european armies these the Ger mans have not yet abolished conscript but they allow 28 per cent of conscripts to claim exemption As conscientious the ukrainians sent the whole december intake of conscripts Home because there was no Money or work for big Eastern Europe armies like the russian and ukrainian ones will be stuck with their conscripts for some time because they have inherited Large offi cer corps from the communists who must be Given something to somebody to but elsewhere the armies Are the defence budgets Are still and nobody is interested in Dis Aster the polish defence budget is a third of what it was 10 years and the biggest czech opposition party is even questioning Prague commitment to join nato As soon As Washington and Moscow still teem with defence intellectuals who could find a strategic threat in an empty Ocean if it would help to justify a major weapons but in real life the military trend is sharply downwards politicians Arent is this just a Blip on the or dare we Hope that it is a deeper shift in the Way the world works no but there is one hopeful for whatever do not fight each they will fight other kinds of regimes without but they do not fight each and now All the worlds industrialized countries Are Gwynne Dyer is a historian and his column appears the Case for the u of w letters to the editor i was most disappointed to read the recent letters which advocate the closure of the univer sity of Winnipeg As a solution to increasing financial such a suggestion is shortsighted and diversity in like diversity in everything is a Good were it not for the University of i would have left the province to pursue my education As the other three universities there Are four universities in people dont seem to be aware of Boniface College do not meet my needs or i purposely chose the University of Winnipeg for its smaller size and for its excellent reputation in and while Walter Cas tones letter pointed out that the University of Manitoba has twice ranked last in the Mac leans sur he neglected to mention that the University of Winnipeg placed in the top the belief that a social science or Liberal arts degree is not required by the Job Market is simply not the skills one acquires in the Pursuit of such a degree Are varied and can be applied to practically any my sociology degree has served me Well and i know it always u of w students with undergraduate degrees also have a much higher Success rate at being accepted by universities with graduate and professional programs compared to u of m and the u of w has also had More than its share of Rhodes scholars Over the years compared with other uni this institution is doing something Cindy Charette Winnipeg ignore request from Cha Csc radio Morningside commented on a request to the Media from the Canadian medical association to Reserve the title doctor in reporting for medical and dental practitioners third world countries Many of which i have seen with a Quarter of our literacy rate seem to suffer no such conf it seems to me that the Cha is either trying to diminish the level of Public intelligence in this coun try or this is just another manifestation of its jaundiced me god the Cha should know that the title doctor Means teacher and was originally applied Only to the most highly respected intellectuals scientists and professors Long before med ical practice emerged from hum ble the Cha should also be aware that its profession is essentially applied biology and chemistry and most of the knowl Edge that doctors apply in their practice was Given to them by the very academicians they would like to deprive of the title How to reach us the free press welcomes letters from letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed address and Telephone names will be published but not All letters May be edited for style and Short letters Are less Likely to be please address letters to letters to the Winnipeg free 1355 Mountain Winnipeg r2x letters can be sent to our fax number letters May be submitted through the internet at letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be but must include Home address and Telephone i can Only Hope that the Media can display enough intellectual maturity to ignore this request from the at a time when physicians Are having a difficult time making a decent they dont need the Cha to diminish their Public Morris Winnipeg Honor and bargain hard i have with consider Able the proposal by the mayor and City Council to renege on the collective agreement Between the City and its employ As a i in a Man Ner of the employer of the police officers and whoever else draws a pay Cheque from the City of Winnipeg and have elected a Council to run this business for i am a property taxpayer and therefore a shareholder in the corporate City and consider it my duty to voice my displeasure when management is acting in a manner which is contrary to Good business the present collective agreement must be when the present contract terms have i will expect City Council to negotiate the Best Deal possible and if that is at reduced salary lev then so be if the mayor is truly serious about reducing maybe she should Start with the Council a City the size of Winnipeg could be run quite handily by a compe tent Council of mayor include in and the City of Winnipeg is a when there Are deficit the Best place to Start re engineering is at the had mayor Susan Thompson and the Council refused the two per cent raise that they were awarded automatically and taken a fur ther two per cent they May have entered this controversial foray with some under the any fur ther attempt to get the provincial government to agree to a reduction in salaries for City employees will be political suicide for the cutting the size of City Council is one Way to trim property tax a critic and the Premier As Kenneth Winnipeg Neeson film rates five stars the reviewer in the free press not Alison Gillmor awarded the movie before and Star ring meryl Streep and Liam Nee Only two stars out of i would have Given it another moviegoer has also taken Issue with the reviewers Low i no wonder my daughter and i both enjoyed ourselves immensely at this our attention never the cast was the production i found the Basic the Way the drama worked its magic on and the Resolution of conflict extremely and the talking i liked Best of Junnor Riseley Winnipeg Gould we be so Lucky what a treat it was to hear pre Mier Lucien in his Frank and honest pledge equal Lan Guage rights to his English Audi by the time you print this he will have repealed Bill Donald Ross Winnipeg race Issue getting stale i found your article in the Sun Day free future Shock hits interesting but somewhat off the Mark on addressing the larger problem facing North and the and that is the Cul Tural gaps or fissures covering the the race Issue is overused and getting in the past 10 How Many race wars have taken place around the world compare them to the cultural within Blacks were killed by other Blacks because of cultural in the Whites have killed each other by the thousands during the past five years Over Cul Tural please Tell me of the most recent race War because i think i have missed race based skirmishes take but Pale in comparison to cultural con race is fac Tor within a but in recent conflicts it has not been the pre dominate variable creating ten Sions Between with the end of the cold pent up cultural issues Are now taking Centre stage throughout the having had to take a Back seat to ideological issues Between the West and Sovi ets for Over 40 the Quebec referendum is an excellent example of How cultural differences came exceedingly close in breaking up the your article discussed several Cul Tural differences Between the Long time residents of and the chinese but you did it address one racial who would push the racist Button if you substituted chinese immigrants with an influx of russian orthodox christians in sure if All of the variables such As a shared history and the other items of con Tention were As in the chinese the concerns and complaints of the residents would be you would serve the Public bet Ter by addressing All issues creat ing differences Between Labelling cultural tension and differences As racist is academically Lazy and Doest explain the Basic problems Between Michael Prusakowski Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau Alex Kim to make a 5o Why you Guy so to want to play ;