Correspondents' Correspondence

...Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS White House Warmup Washington-the Presidential sweepstakes remain the biggest game in town, and Democratic politicians here are far from convinced that they will have a winning entry m 1972 Last election's losing Vice Presidential nominee, Maine's Senator Edmund S Muskie, is probably the leading aspirant now, but he has been unable to still doubts among his would-be supporters Having virtually declared himself a candidate for 1972, albeit using the circumlocutions of his trade, Muskie has set his idea men to work on national and international issues, and is moving his staff into new offices in downtown Washington He recently organized a District of Columbia campaign committee as well—a prerequisite of almost every national campaign, since it provides a mechanism for shy, shady or awkward political angels to contribute to their favorite candidates Due to a loophole in the Federal law, political committees m the capital, unlike those in the 50 states, do not have to report contributions But so far the efficiency of Mus-kie's expanded operations is not much to brag about, if the following is any indication After a long and extended buildup, on March 24 President Nixon released an ambivalent 19-page message on school desegregation A political document, it called for a political response from the opposition, but reporters seeking out Muskie were told that he was unavailable The Senator's top aides had nothing to say, his press aide had not even heard about the desegregation message One Democrat observed "If Robert Kennedy were still around, he would've blasted Nixon within an hour " To some extent, Muskie appears to be testing the path of victory taken by the present White House resident Only occasionally does he speak up on the issues, although he has been traveling the country and talking to myriad small groups, particularly the party faithful This strategy worked for Nixon in 1968, but Democratic politicians are not so sure it will do the same tor Muskie m 1972 As for the top 1968 Democratic loser, Hubert H Humphrey, he has been telling friends that speeches in Podunk are ignored So he is coming to Washington, where the action-and national media coverage-is The Democrats may soon have another contender in the wings R Sargent Shnver Jr Only recently returned to Montgomery County, Maryland, from the U S embassy in Paris, he is already stumping the state and sounding out political reaction to his entering the governorship race All observers agree Shriver wants to run for the state post?seeing it as a necessary step toward the White House-and most think he will Understandably, aides to Maryland's Democratic Governor Marvin Mandel are very worried indeed Mandel is a small, unphotogenic man who came into office with a rather unsavory reputation as a legislative wheeler-dealer Since succeeding Spiro T Agnew, however, he has won wide respect as an effective and progressive executive In an attempt to further revise his image and compete with the charismatic Shriver, Mandel has hired no less than three television consulting organizations and plans a massive series of political ads The whole operation is beginning to resemble Nelson A Rockefeller's 1966 reelection campaign m New York Thus despite the pessimism of Mandel's own staff, outside observers give him a fighting chance In fact, Maryland Democrats' worst nightmare is based on Mandel's projected success Should he and Shriver end up in a primary standoff, George P Mahoney-the maverick Baltimorean who seized the Democratic candidacy four years ago under the anti-fair-housing banner, "Your home is your castle"-may well become the next governor But if Shnver can somehow manage to overcome both Mandel and Mahoney, many knowledgeable insiders believe he will be the leading contender for the 1972 Democratic Presidential nomination ?Walter R Gordon SAM.3 Challenge Tel Aviv-It is a mark of Richard Nixon's political skill that his March 23 refusal to approve the sale of 125 jet fighters to Israel provoked a relatively mild reaction here Following the Soviet rejection of US suggestions for a mutual slowdown of arms deliveries in the Middle East, the Israelis were confident that they would be allowed to purchase the aircraft Their optimism was further heightened by Nixon's declaration, in his February 18 foreign policy report to Congress, that "the United States would view any effort by the Soviet Union to seek predominance in the Middle East as a matter of grave concern " But instead of the expected affirmation, there came the American press and television reports of an apparent reversal in the U S position Next, Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin rushed home from Washington to give an extremely pessimistic briefing on the situation and gloom descended over the Israeli government Subsequently, however, news began circulating of the softemng touches in the U S stance These were ultimately made public by Secretary of State William P Rogers, who explained that the Administration was not turning down Israel's request tor the jets but merely holding the decision "in abeyance" Arms as well as replacement aircraft would be furnished "promptly if the situation [by American evaluation] requires it", meanwhile, economic assistance amounting to roughly $100 million will be provided in response to Israel's "short-term financial" needs All this, of course, now appeared better than teared, and accounted in good measure for the official restraint Perhaps equally important, nobody wanted to give the Arabs or Russians the impression that the U S was backing away from its commitments to Israel Indeed, the real concern in Israeli government and political circles at the moment is over the possible Soviet interpretations of the American action For it is believed that pressure groups in the Kremlin with an interest in stepping up Soviet backing of Colonel Nasser-especially among the top military-are citing the refusal to sell Israel Sky-hawk and Phantom jets as confirmation of their contention that Washington's warnings to Moscow are far less menacing than they have been made to appear Thus Jerusalem was disturbed by the tact that the U S decision was announced after it had been disclosed that the USSR was not only shipping sam-3 antiaircraft missiles to Egypt, but supplying large numbers of technical personnel to help set up and operate them This move-a definite escalation of both the arms race and the Soviet presence m the Middle East-as seen here as at best a probing of American determination, and at worst an open challenge Whatever the case, though the Nixon Administration seemed to prefer to ignore its implications In Israel's view, there are two main aspects to the present situation First, the sam-3s will make air activity-which keeps losses on the Suez front at a tolerable level-increasingly risky, and the need for additional aircraft especially urgent Second, while Israel has no doubts about U S intentions, Washington's attitude may mistakenly induce the USSR to commit itself more deeply to Egypt than if it were clearly challenged by American counter-moves Jerusalem can be expected to launch an intensive but strictly diplomatic campaign to convince the Nixon Administration of both points Meanwhile, the Air Force will continue its all-out effort to prevent the Egyptians and their Russian advisers from deploying sam-3 missiles along the Suez Canal ?S Peters Kremlin Signals Moscow-The Soviet regime has signaled its inability to advance the cause of peace in either the Middle East or Southeast Asia m the way it knows best by mounting a shrill propaganda campaign on both issues The anti-Israeli, anti-Zionist tirade grew to a crescendo following the February 12 bombing of a scrap metal plant near Cairo, which the media here built into the biggest atrocity since My Lai Daily outbursts of Israelis-are-no-better-than-Fascists have become the rule m Moscow And such sentiments are increasingly attributed now to prominent Soviet Jews proclaiming their loyalty to the Soviet motherland and their scorn for Golda Meir There are perhaps two alternative motives for these actions The first is that Nasser wants more and better weapons and aircraft, and the Soviets are building a rationale for giving them to him The other possibility, however, is that they are in fact sending up a smokescreen behind which to deny the Egyptian request For do they really want mig-23s, with or without Soviet pilots, shot down over Israel territory' As tor Southeast Asia the Kremlin greeted the Laotian government's request for a new Geneva conference with an angry volley against American bombing in Laos The North Vietnamese role in that country was simply not mentioned, in the same way that the Arab terrorists' activities have not been All this noise is in great contrast to Soviet comments on U S arms policy President Nixon's decision to continue abm spending, for example, drew unexceptional criticism, while his messages on disarmament have been described as generally "positive," a favorable word in the Soviet lexicon So they may have something to discuss this month at the resumed salt talks in Vienna —Irwin Chapman...