4
OPINION
4Page 4
Wednesday, January 23, 1985
The Michigan
Daily
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Edite aichig an a lt
Edited and manoged by students ot The University of Michigan
The 'cold war cycle' turns
Vol. XCV, No. 93
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Appropriate disobedience
AFTER COUNTLESS delays, the
trial of the Progressive Student
Network members who were arrested
and charged with trespassing in Prof.
George Haddad's office is about to
begin. Eleven students. and former
graduate students were arrested for
trespassing on March 6. Four of the
protesters will be tried in court on
Thursday.
PSN was protesting Haddad's
research for the Department of Defen-
se which the group's investigation in-
dicated had applications to the
Phoenix missile system.
As their trial approaches, it is impor-
tant to recall the appropriateness of
the protesters' action, as well as to ap-
plaud and support that action.
Civil disobedience such as the type
practiced by the 11 PSN members can-
not be an isolated incident. It cannot be
used in good conscience until all legal
means of redress have been exhausted.
Its goal is to present a demonstration
before the public that illustrates the
dangers of the object of protest. For
civil disobedience to be effective in any
way, it must be accompanied by for-
mal demands and efforts to educate
the community.
The action of the 11 protesters fulfills
all the requirements of necessary and
appropriate civil disobedience. PSN
investigated the nature of Haddad's
research and determined that it had
applications to the Phoenix missile
system. Although the research may
have non-military applications as well,
its application to missile guidance
systems poses a threat to human life.
Before undertaking the action, the
protesters explored every legal means
available to end military research on
campus. In addition to investigating
different research projects on campus,
they held forums and worked to
educate the community about the link.
between military research and the
nuclear arms race. Also they put for-
th a proposal to extend the guidelines
governing classified research to non-
classified research. In spite of being
approved by both MSA and the faculty
senate-organizations which represent
a majority of the University com-
munity-the proposal was voted down
by the regents.
In the ten months between the arrest
and trial, their action has remained
one of the most controversial issues on
campus. The more frequently the issue
is brought before the public, the more
effectively it brings to mind that
research on this campus is a part of the
arms race.
Thursday's trial provides yet
another opportunity for PSN to bring
up the issue of military research on
campus. Since the trial is open to the
public, it will provide an opportunity
for concerned individuals to publicly
support the protesters' actions.
Even if the verdict goes against the
protesters, the action has been an ef-
fective and appropriate response to the
military research question. Civil
disobedience is a drastic step, but in
the case of the Haddad sit-in, it was
warranted.
By Franz Schurmann
Once again U.S.-Soviet relations are on the
upswing - this time on the eve of Ronald
Reagan's second inaugural. Such upswings and
downswings have been so frequent over the last
four decades they seem to come in cycles, like
economies.
The key variables in the fluctuations have to
do not so much with spurts in the arms race as
with the emergence of new geographic areas of
rivalry.
Prior to Pearl Harbor, U.S.-Soviet relations
were insignificatn. Then both countries
plunged into a full military alliance against
Nazi Germany. Relations become almost
euphoric. But weeks after Truman's
inauguration in April 1945, the U.S. and the
British began to dispute the Soviets' control
over Poland. So Moscow began to suspect the
U.S. of wanting to destabilize them. And
Washington, in turn, suspected the Soviets of
using newly powerful Communist parties to
destabilize U.S. control in Western Europe.
Relations dropped to a trough during the
Korean War and the NATO buildup. Both coun-
tries plunged int a new arms race. The dangers
of war grew with pressure to expand the war to
China and to take on the Soviets over Berlin.
But the crisis passed. Stalin's death in March
1953 helped clear the way for a Korean ar-
mistice that summer. A. year later the Western
powers and the Soviets agreed to end the four
power occupation of Austria. And in the sum-
mer of 1955 Eisenhower and Khrushchev held
their first summit meeting in Geneva.
Looking back it is clear that fear of falling
over the brink was a big factor in the easing of
tensions. But even more important was the
tacit acceptance by both the West and the
Soviets of their respective spheres of control in
Europe, and formal agreement to restore the
pre-invasion division of Korea.
A brief downturn in U.S.-Soviet relations
came in 1957. The apparent cause was a spurt
in the arms race set off by the unexpected
Soviet achievement of putting an orbiting
satelliteaand an ICBM into space. But a deeper
reason was the re-emergence of friction bet-
ween the Sino-Soviet alliance and the U.S. in
East Asia, culminating in the Quemoy crisis of
mid-1958 which once again led us to the brink of
World War III.
But this time the Soviets cut China adrift,
leading directly to the eruption of the Sino-
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Soviet conflict in 1960. Instead, Khrushchev
showed how important he regarded the
relationship to the U.S. by coming here in 1959.
With U.S.-Soviet political friction down, a new
upswing in relations ensued.
A downswing set in gain when Kennedy came
into office. New friction points with the Soviets
opened up in Cuba and the Congo. But when
these settled, relations improved. So, some
nine months after the Cuban missile crisis of
October 1962, the U.S. signed the first arms
control agreement with the Soviets.
Another downswing began when the U.S.
started to bomb North Vietnam in February
1965. And Moscow began to fret when
Washington began talking of building an ABM
system in 1966. But a real plunge came in the
wake of the crushing Israeli victory in the Six
Days War of June, 1967. As a result key Arab
states like Iraq, Syria, and Egypt swung
to the Soviet side. A vast new area of U.S.-
Soviet friction opened up in the oil-rich Middle
East.
U.S.-Soviet relations were again moving to
the brink in the late 1960s. The Vietnam War
created greater and greater friction with China
and the Soviet Union. U.S. and Soviet fleets
were harassing each other in the
Mediterranean. Nixon eased the crisis by
making significant diplomatic breakthroughs
to both the Soviet Union and China. The Viet-
nam war waned and the U.S. and thb Soviets
agreed to cooperate rather than confront each
other in the Middle East. So began the upswing
of detante.
In the later 1970s, downswings set in again
not so much because of new arms races bul
because new regions of friction opened up
southern Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Indiar
Ocean, and especially the new fears of Soviei
expansionism in the Middle East aroused by
the turmoil in Iran and especially the invasioi
of Afghanistan.
When Reagan assumed office, new flashpoin
ts of U.S.-Soviet rivalry were eviden
throughout the world. The Reagan ad
ministration decided to add Central America
as another instance of Soviet expansionism.
Now as a mild U.S.-Soviet euphoria emanate
out of Geneva, it coincides with an easing o
tensions in every single flashpoint. Both sides
have again tacitly accepted the East-Wesi
division in Europe. Both are basically working
together and not at crosspoints in the Midd
East. U.S.-Soviet frictions in Africa hav
eased. Washington is soft-pedalling talk ol
Soviet-Cuban expansionism in Centra
America. And despite reports ,of increased
covert aid - which has given no discernabl
boost to the resisitance - the U.S. for all pract
tical purposes has consigned Afghanistan to the
Soviet orbit.
Earlier, such easing off from flashpoints was
often followed by a slowdown in the arms race,
So now again, some new arms accords appeai
in the works. This does not mean any lessening
of U.S.-Soviet rivalry. But it suggests the ki
was to mitigate the dangers arising from thi
rivalry is doing everything possible to avoid in
flaming potential flashpoints.
Schurmann wrote this article for the
Pacific News Service.
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A good tonic
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THOSE WHO believe that snake-
oil salesmen who market miracle
cures are a thing of the past need only
peruse the classified pages of many
popular periodicals. Of late, the
miracle cures address themselves to
the problem of baldness. And like the
tonics distributed by traveling
salesmen of the Music Man era, they
don't work.
These miracle cures concern the
Food and Drug Administration, and
last week it proposed a ban on over-
the-counter hair growing tonics which
have been proven harmless but inef-
fective. Though the ban is not expected
to go into effect in the very near future,
this decision marks a victory for bald
persons around the world. No longer
will these unfortunate genetic victims
be tormented by before-and-after ad-
vertisements. No longer will
marketing firms of questionable
credibility profit from the false hopes
of the hairless.
But why stop with hair products?
There are dozens of other products on
the market that deserve critical
analysis on the part of the FDA. Let's
find out if it is truly possible to make
you fingernails grow faster and more
beautifully. Tell us, FDA, if 50 pounds
can be lost in five months-without
dieting. If it is the responsibility of this
agency to review the tonics and potions
Americans inhale, swallow, or rub
over their bodies, let it inform the
public about diet pills and other
questionable beauty aids.
With the recent decision, the FDA
has-pardon the pun-only scratched
the surface. Hair tonics are one battle
which has been won, but the war con-
tinues.
____ ___ ____ ___/JCIIGAN .DAILY
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K/ND
OF DARN
FORCE
OR GOMETHING.
LETTERS TO THE DAILY
Daily is all talk without any action
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To the Daily:
It remains to be seen whether
or not Brian Leiter will dare
leave the comfort of his ivory
tower to live the life he so praises
so eloquently in the opinion page
of this socialist rag of yours. One
must ask: Does hypocrisy serve a
purpose, and then, does Leiter
serve a purpose?
It is, unfortunately, typical of
campus socialists like Leiter who
are ensconsed within ivy-covered
cells to attack the "system" from
which they also eagerly draw
guinea pigs of their "social ex-
perimentation."
But perhaps such broad ac-
cusations are unfounded. There
may be some professed socialists
who are actually living in the
style of "working men." And
perhaps when Leiter leaves
school, he will sacrifice 80 or 90
percent of his (no doubt substan-
BLOOM COUNTY
tial) future income for the sake of
class homogeneity. Maybe.
If Leiter really believes that
maxims like "capitalism equals
freedom" ("The Failure of
Liberalism" Daily, January 9)
are simplistic or just false, it is
incumbent on him to prove to the
rest of us that there is room for
more "complex social analysis,"
and that socialism, not
capitalism, marks the way t
freedom. Let Leiter reject hi
position in the elite to lead us into
the moral path of economic
equality.
We wait for the philosopher's
reaction, but should we hold our
breath?
-Bruce Poindexter
January 15
by Berke Breathed
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