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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JUNE 11, 1982
PAGE 11
defeated the SPD with about 43% of the vote, but neither can govern now
because the "greens" will not enter into coalition with them. The result is
temporary confusion and a call for new elections. Perhaps since the CDU is
on the upswing it will win outright next time.
Wars Upstage Summits
The NATO summit here, and particularly the preceding free world economic
summit in Versailles, France, have been pretty well upstaged by two head
line-grabbing wars, one in the Falklands and the other now in Lebanon.
The Versailles summit, which this reporter also attended, could best be
described as a very expensive non-entity, simply because the attention of
both the delegates and the news media were focused on these other two more
urgent issues.
This fact struck me especially during U.S. Secretary of
State Alexander Haig's first news conference in Versailles.
After his
opening remarks, the first question from a reporter dealt with deteriorat
ing conditions in the Falklands. I don't recall another subject, certainly
not world economics, that was subsequently discussed.
· Then came knowledge of America's embarrassing vote-switch at the United
Nations, in which it requested to change its vote from "veto" (supporting
the British in the Falklands) to "abstention." This snafu dominated the
attention of those gathered at Versailles the next day, both on the part of
the press and the official delegations (especially the Americans and the
angry British).
Finally, on the last day, the Israelis, after waiting for months, militar
ily moved into Lebanon on a massive scale in an all-out PLO headhunt. World
economics??--Forget it. (Those who were interested in neither the wars nor
economics elected to watch instead the final match of the French Open
tennis tournament on the press center TV monitors.)
Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, by moving into Lebanon while the
leaders of the most powerful countries in the West were assembled, showed
his unconcern for world opinion. Begin knew they would condemn Israel's
actions (which they did) but not call for U.N. sanctions, sure to be vetoed
by the U.S. The justification for the Israelis' action was initially the
attempted murder of the Israeli ambassador to Britain in London. (This act
brought a chilling response to me as it occurred just outside the door of
the Dorchester Hotel, where Mr. Armstrong and those of us in his party had
stayed only a couple of weeks before.)
The size and scope of the long-rumored Israeli attack came as a surprise to
most observers. It far exceeds the last major raid into Lebanon in 1978.
This time it is clearly aimed at destroying once and for all, if that is
possible, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as an effective
fighting force. This of necessity has brought Israeli forces into conflict
with Syrian forces which protect the PLO in Lebanon. Israel claims to have
wiped out all 19 batteries of Syrian Sam-6 missiles as well as 59 Syrian MiG
warplanes. Wednesday's battle, in which Syria lost 23 planes and Israel
none, was called by some observers the largest aerial battle since World
War II.
Some experts in the West fear that the Soviets, with whom the Syr�ans are
1inked in a peace and friendship treaty, wi11 come in on Syria's side