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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, AUGUST 6, 1986
the locomotive for the world's economy. "It is clear that Japan and
rope must take up the slack," he added. Delor, in his interview with
e MAINICHI DAILY NEWS, also remarked that "the EC Commission will
rive, step by step, to develop the role of the ECU to transform it
p ogressively into an international currency, the same as the yen."
Sanctions Row Produces Commonwealth Fracture
It's the whole world
against Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan,
or so it would seem. Both are standing firm against what the President
calls the "emotional clamor for punitive sanctions" against South
Africa. But the pressure on both leaders of the two greatest nations
of modern-day Joseph are intense. And in Mrs. Thatcher's case, unless
she gives way substantially, the future of the Commonwealth could be on
the line.
Even the prestige of the monarchy is at stake (Queen
Elizabeth II is head of the 49-nation Commonwealth, and head of state
of 18 Commonwealth nations directly.)
Regarding Mr. Reagan first, his political opponents and many of his own
Republican Party supporters were dismayed at the President's policy
address on South Africa.
They had expected an announcement of
significant measures against the government in- Pretoria, intended to
ward off the threat of far greater sanctions proposals sweeping through
both houses of Congress.
In resisting the call for sweeping punitive
sanctions, Mr. Reagan said said it would be "immoral and utterly
repugnant" to bring misery to South Africa's blacks by throwing them
out of work. Sanctions would also destroy the "single economic unit"
of southern Africa, he said. Stressing the vital strategic resources
and geography of the region, the President said it would be "a historic
act of folly for the United States and the West, out of anguish and
frustration and anger, to write off South Africa."
Mr. Reagan, it was said, took his hard line partly in support of Mrs.
Thatcher, fighting the same battle with the rest of the Commonwealth.
"Ronald Reagan wanted to stand behind Maggie Thatcher -- he didn't want
her to stand alone," said a senior U.S. official, adding, "She stood
behind him on Libya."
Regardless of the reason, the President is
challenging Congress, threatening to veto any sanctions bill, willing
to accept the risk that his veto may be overridden.
Exactly what the Reagan administration is up against in Congress was
revealed the following day when Secretary of State George Shultz
appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Joseph
Biden Jr. of Delaware, a youngish "rising star" Democrat with
presidential aspirations, emotionally assailed the administration,
accusing it of siding with the rulers in Pretoria whom he labeled "some
stupid puppet government." The U.S., he shouted, should be on the side
of the blacks who, he maintained, "are being crushed." It is important
to know where Senator Biden and increasing numbers of younger, liberal
elected officials are coming from. He emphatically told Mr. Shultz,
for example, that he was a veteran of the American civil rights
movement and that he had heard the Reagan Administration's arguments
before. Mr. Biden and others, such as Senators Kennedy, Weicker and
Cranston, view South Africa exclusively from a black vs. white civil
rights perspective. The remainder of the less committed legislators
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