Editorials

...Despite the wishes of many, non-pacifists as well as pacifists, peace is no{ always the product of disarming—and can be the product of arms...

...The case for the Anderson proposal is strong...

...The only Anderson position that has attracted some national attention and that is typical of the man's innovative and courageous approach is his proposal for a tax of 50-cents-pergallon on gasoline and diesel fuel, raising $61 billion a year, matched by a 50 percent cut in workers' Social Security taxes and a more modest cut in the employers' payroll tax...

...we never acted so suddenly in Vietnam—an important consideration in a world of nuclear buttons—nor, for all the folly of the Bay of Pigs, did we invade Cuba...

...whether toward some routine denting or toward the worst conceivable tragedy, no one knows...

...The protagonists in this debate have been what one writer in the Winter issue of Foreign Policy called "the anti-Soviet brigade," a coalition of neoconservatives concerned about the loss of military and moral strength in the West, old-fashioned crusading anti-Communists, and liberals protesting Moscow's domestic repression...

...Unfortunately, most of the specific proposals, whether urged by the administration or the "anti-Soviet brigade," don't fit the need...

...Brzezinski...

...There is a polar view, of course, which focuses virtually no attention on Soviet actions at all but only on those of America's military...

...Are we seeing a distinct change in Soviet leadership—the sexagenarians taking over from the septuagenarians...

...Third is unqualified backing of the Shahs, the Somozas, the Parks, the Marcoses, the Zias—as long as they are on our side and on their feet, which recent history ought to warn us may not be too long...

...In this view, the Soviet Union is engaged in a dogged effort to attain strategic superiority over the U. S.—indeed, has probably attained it already...

...more than any other GOP candidate, John Anderson is a man who would attract the independent and Democratic votes any Republican candidate must have to win in the general election...

...It was inevitably to alarm the "anti-Soviet brigade" because it rejected the conviction that conflicts all over the world were always "tests" of will or arms between Moscow and Washington...

...Seen from this viewpoint, recent international developments have been almost nothing but one long string of defeats for the West...

...Despite years of public service, Mr...

...The coalition has hit hard at SALT, but the real issues, as some of the critics readily admit, are so broad that the specifics of SALT are virtually irrelevant...

...in the Middle East and in Southern Africa, embryonic settlements have removed vast opportunities for Soviet mischief...

...The Carter administration has not taken either of these views...

...But Afghanistan does force a reappraisal of this position, which is what President Carter was no doubt signaling with his somewhat startling remark about being suddenly educated in the matter of Soviet intentions...

...What next obviously depends on what one thinks has happened...

...Both immediate and, long-run is the need to decrease our energy vulnerability...

...Bach proposal, to develop new weapons systems, reinstitute the draft, create a mobile force for swift intervention, or increase defense spending, is seen as either sheer wastefulness or the resurrection of the ' 'global policeman'' role that not only led us into Vietnam but bears much of the responsibility for current tragedies—Exhibit A: Cambodia...

...To be sure, there are ways of looking at the Soviet invasion that reduce its significance...

...First is the notion, to which Nixon's phrase applies perfectly, of "throwing money, at problems''—increasing defense spending five percent regardless of what we are buying...

...Most importantly, the Soviet Union has generally been shy of this kind of crisis-provocation...

...The long-run need is to restabilize the strategic balance...

...Behind it all there was something of a policy choice, however...

...If he does and if he can match that performance in the next primary in Massachusetts-admittedly two big ifs_he wiU overnight Commonweal: 4 become a real contender...

...With his rivals for the GOP nomination splitting the conservative votes, say Anderson supporters, their man has agood chance of pulling all of the state's moderate and liberal Republican voters...

...To confront this problem and not to consider the question of armaments is to be totally unserious...

...Is the answer simply more counter-force...

...To take us out of the skid requires action, but as every driver knows, not too much or too fast...

...No doubt more will be heard of this argument when Congress reconvenes...

...Our greatest weakness overseas remains economic and energy mismanagement at home...

...There is a good bit of wishful thinking in this scenario, of course...

...Vance, the latter with Mr...

...As significant as its view of the USSR, however, is the "anti-Soviet brigade's" view of theU.S...

...The president, the nation, the world are skidding...

...And one can find historical precedents to qualify the appearance of a totally new departure in Soviet policy: just as Moscow invaded Hungary while the West was tied up with Suez, so it struck in Afghanistan even as America was entangled in Iran...

...Be that as it may, as far as Mr...

...On the world diplomatic level, the Soviets have probably dealt themselves a defeat...

...into plain John Anderson, serious Republican candidate...

...Studies indicate that raising the price of gasoline by 50 cents per gallon would reduce consumption by almost ten percent or 700,000 barrels a day right now, and by almost 3 million barrels in ten years' time...

...Second is the MX which still smacks of Rube Goldberg...

...That seems as likely to require disarmament as new weapons—the hard pursuit of SALT and bargaining over Euromissiles...

...Wielding such superiority, it is embarking on a global policy of aggression, intervening directly, using Cuban proxies, or simply forcing accommodation by fear of the consequences...

...By rejecting various arms systems like the B-1 bomber or the neutron bomb, by delaying the MX system, by undermining anti-Communist but authoritarian regimes with preachments about human rights, by inhibiting covert action or refusing further military involvement in places like Angola, Nicaragua, and Iran, Washington has exhibited a "failure of nerve" and encouraged the Soviet Union's ambitions...

...That was to deemphasize concern with the Soviets altogether and give more attention to regional problems in their own terms...

...The U.S...

...Little comfort, however, and possibly much self-deception can be derived from such arguments...

...This was to break with Kissinger's bi-polar worldview in which everything was "linked" to the central issue of the U.S.-USSR equilibrium...

...For some time a fierce debate has been raging about American policy toward the Soviet Union...

...Afghanistan is only confirmation...

...And hasn't the U.S...

...Higher gasoline prices would have a serious impact on the poor, but this would be offset by the cuts in Social Security taxes, which would be substantial, and, if there is still a surplus, in income taxes as well...

...Anderson is relatively little known at the moment, but it is not impossible that the up-coming New Hampshire primary may change mat...

...MORE ON JOHN WHO?' Elsewhere in this issue there appears a political profile of John Who...

...The strongman it excised was something of an Afghan Pol Pot...

...Finlandization'' is the word that has taken over from' 'domino theory'' in the vocabulary of this outlook...

...Even if they are not mired down in Afghan as the U. S. was in Vietnam—and the evidence is that they won't be—they have presented a new face to the Third World...

...But given the usual GOP death wish, will a candidate with this ability be considered too liberal by the Republican faithful...

...Claims to the contrary notwithstanding, this attitude appears tp have allowed the flexibility necessary for some notable foreign policy successes...

...otherwise known as Republican presidential candidate Congressman John B. Anderson of Illinois...

...in fact, it has been 18 January 1980: 3 charged, with some justification, of taking no view at all of U.S.-USSR relations but of swinging inconsistently between conciliation and confrontation, the former identified with Mr...

...The problem can be seen on three levels...

...The military leadership, too, have had a lot of experience recently fighting or "advising" overseas—in the Horn of Africa, South Yemen, Iraq...

...All this is tied to what both the "anti-Soviet brigade" and the administration have recognized as a potential "crisis of the eighties," a period when external Soviet might may be paralleled with extreme internal Soviet instability—the nonRussian nationalities are growing, the economy continues to stumble, average life expectancy is decreasing, and infant mortality on the rise...

...The Russian concern about Afghanistan has deep historical roots...

...On top of it all, we need to escape the trap of returning to a totally .bi-polar picture of world politics even while we concentrate our national mind on the Soviet Union's new challenge...

...with authoritarian regimes whose days may be numbered...

...The embargo on high technology and grain, the postponement of SALT, and the rallying of opposition in the United Nations were responsible first steps in reaction to the' Soviet invasion of Afghanistan...

...has in fact given up its own penchant for military actions of this sort...

...Exhibit B: Iran...

...The only feasible alternative, they say,,is mandatory gasoline rationing, and Congress seems to have no stomach for that...

...That will require careful diplomacy, a military presence in the region, and (despite the dangers it entails) a long-range American striking force...

...the New York Times and others favor still another version of a substantial tax on gasoline, with the impact on the poor cushioned in a different fashion...

...This may not seem like much when you consider that the United States imports some 8 million barrels of oil a day, but it is enough to reduce demand sufficiently that the OPEC nations could not raise prices at will...

...On the regional level, however, they have demonstrated a military will and capacity that can be equally turned against the West's oil supply...

...And on the level of East-West strategic balance, they have revealed an adventurousness, a taste for the fait accompli, that could lead to nuclear miscalculation and conflagration...

...But what next...

...The fact is that the Soviets' massive military intervention beyond the lines drawn after World War II is a new departure, and whatever can be said about Russia's concerns for its borders or its Moslem population would justify a full-scale military move into Iran just as logically...

...Control was regained in an instant, but the image is an apt one to retain for the international situation that earlier the same evening the president had addressed on nationwide TV...

...In Latin America, the administration has loosened the identification of the U.S...

...The immediate need is to prevent Soviet hegemony over the West's oil supply...

...18 January 1980: 5...

...Moscow had understandable fears about the effects of a victorious insurgency flying the banner of Moslem revivalism on its own vast Moslem population...

...Anderson is concerned, we hope the Republican voters of New Hampshire reward him for talking sense in his campaign by turning him from John Who...

...intervened in Cuba, in the Dominican Republic, in Vietnam...

...The drawback that would still remain is the inflationary effect of such a rise in the price of gas, and advocates of the new tax grant this, but they argue that it is still better that the price rise remain in the United States rather than dribble out little by little to the OPEC nations...

...Counter-force is an answer, but not simply counter-force, and not only counter-force...