May 1986

5/2/86

Russia closed all nuke plants like the one--graphite burners
-Armand Hammer sent a bone expert to USSR
-Russian tv had nothing about the accident, but did show pictures of life-as-usual in the vicinity

Aquino fined the police chief of Manila for not containing Marcos demonstration

What happened to last yr’s humanitarian aid to the Contras? Answer: $15m of the 27 may have been spent on weapons (is this why 7m is unaccounted for?)
-Lugar & Foreign Relations Cmte to investigate whether Nicaragua or Contras are drug-running


5/3/86

“and the more he protests, the faster we count the silverware”

Gen. Stroessner is coming up on 32 yrs of rule & of state of siege

Strike in Br prisons is --> to breakouts, violence. Gov won’t back down, will move inmates to military camps

Only 38% of the unemployed are getting any benefits

Admin trying to limit liability by law. Suddenly liability is the big bugbear. There’s even a referendum on the ballot


5/4/86

Russia did indeed oust the head of Afghan. Replaced by a secret police head. Terrific.
-At same time as new talks w/Pakistan

Waldheim barely missed presidency of Austria--will be a run-off

It has been acknowledged that Thatcher didn’t go along w/sanctions against Libya because the Commonwealth would then demand sanctions against SA


5/5/86

Someone suggests in letter in Economist that the problem of response to terrorism is that people think there is not, exc security, etc

RR at heigh of approval ratings--68%. 21% disapprove, 11% dk


5/6/86

RR is defending Suharto: Indonesia’s human rights situation we won’t talk about, but they have food & econ growth. Incredible what he thinks of as a legitimate trade-off.

RR still isn’t talking about why the exclusive concentration on Libya while ignoring Iran & esp Syria


5/7/86

Sup Court: death penalty opponents can be banned from juries--obvious solution is 2 separate juries for guilt & sentencing

What was the US Coast Guard doing in Lampedusa, Italy, which Libya tried to hit?


5/8/86

Gaston Defferre died

FBI began its investigation of Richard Deaver by trying to talk to the Demo. Senators who demanded the inquiry

US will not increase aid to Philippines

US finally admitted hitting civilian areas in Libya (3 “stray” bombs)

The Sen. Judiciary Cmte didn’t approve a RR nominee for Fed Judgeship--passed to Senate w/no recommendation--far right & not at all competent

There seems to be a Libyan connection w/one of the groups fighting SA

Russians admitted that evacuation (beyond 6 mi from Chernobyl) took 6 days to begin. Now saying problems not from human error--interesting implications here, considering how optimistic Soviet is on technology. Locals didn’t tell Moscow the scope of situation for 2 dys

Bangladesh has suddenly stopped announcing election results. The election has been horribly dishonest, w/much intimidations. Sounds like much re-electing will be done


5/9/86

RR & Schultz have been really disgusting about S Korean “democracy” & calling all opposition violent

“We only become what we are by the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made us.” --Sartre


5/10/86

Editorial NYT: Admin could care less about Contras. But CIA uses issue to maintain capability of fighting covert wars

Times editorial about “Fragile Democracy in the Sudan”--interesting because there have been no stories on Sudan in dys & no mention of boycott by the south of the new parl

Pastora’s contras losing more field commanders to the FDN

Mae West: “there were times so bad I didn’t where my next husband was coming from.”


5/11/86

Israel has now denied so often that it will go to war w/Syria that one really has to wonder

“You shall have joy, or you shall have power, said God; you shall not have both.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Man’s sense of justice makes democracy possible; man’s injustice makes it necessary.” Benigno Aquino


5/13/86

Reagan is blaming Congress for Iranian activity--for refusing arms sale to Saudi Arabia


5/14/86

Gorbachev extending test ban till August

Yugoslavia sentenced a Nazi war criminal to firing squad--he’s 86 with Alzheimer’s


5/15/86

Ethiopia bringing back forced relocation


5/16/86

3/4 value of internat arms sales are for Middle East, esp to Saudi Arabia, Iraq


5/17/86

Irish Parl deliberating legalizing divorce

Sec of Ed Wm Bennett says colleges reject the democratic ethic. This + work ethic & Judeo-Christian ethic in danger of not being transmitted, he says

Senate 91-7 to allow export of drugs awaiting approval for domestic sales


5/18/86

SA hit ANC targets in Zambia & Zimbabwe & Botswana, inc 2 in Harare. Why not, there’s US precedent, isn’t there?

Sri Lanka insists the Tamils want to impose a communist dictatorship. Ridiculous, of course, but it justifies them treating Tamil-country as a foreign nation to be conquered. “No longer an ethnic problem.” (!)


5/19/86

The quest for an end to leaks has claimed a victim, one Spencer Warren, of State, who leaked a note from Schultz to Argentina criticizing Tip O’Neill--purely political, not security-relateede at all

Edén Pastora has quit the Contras

Sup Court decides aerial surveillance can be used w/out warrants

Sup court 5-4 struck down an affirmative action plan drawn up in response to proof of discrimination. 1st decision that whites protected against discrimination, but would accept a plan that favors blacks if written properly. May be good in setting guidelines, but could screw ½ the current plans. Sounds like past discrim must be proven for plan to involve racial-based payoffs but not for hiring or promotion


5/20/86

The Chernobyl plant’s design was closer to US nuke plans, w/more safety, than was thought


5/22/86

PW Botha has a right-wing backlash on his hands (!)


5/27/86

In an edited story (by Israeli military censors), Shamir & Peres may be prosecuted for the deaths of 2 Palestinians in custody about 2 yrs ago

US will no longer be bound by SALT II, but will still dismantle the 2 Poseidons. So is this just rhetorical?


5/28/86

Nakasone is getting his early elections

After the discotheque bombing in W Berlin, we criticized E Ger for not having a tight enough security on the intra-Berlin border, but evidently were not willing to acknowledge it as an internat border. On Friday, E Ger announced that everyone would need to show passports. 2 birds, 1 stone: added security + internat recog off border. Yesterday, US, UK, Fr sent diplomats over just w/dipl id’s as a protest. We don’t recognize the Berlin Wall as a border or even E Berlin as capital of E Ger. ... seems like this could be an opportunity to take advantage of & regularize the status of W Berlin


5/29/86

Marcos ran up bills (for US gov) (or to US gov) of $207,000 inc $11,000 in health & beauty aids & $2,500 in, yes, yes, shoes! We spent $858,417 to get him & clan (90 all told) out of Philippines. Inc $19,971 in long-distance charges, $16,000 in room charges....

If min wage were adjusted to equivalent of 1967 level, would be $5.38

Two of the black vigilantes who have been recruited by the SA security police came forward. Perhaps as much to blur racial lines in pub op and make situation seem more complicated


5/31/86

Evidently the US also limited discussion of Chernobyl...

The Dutch Communist Party lost all its seats (3), seems to be a militant feminist party!

The Philippines’ CP may be badly split between intransigents & those willing to talk w/Cory Aquino. But things certainly seem to be moving slowly

Peru produces ½ world’s cocaine. And land under coca still increasing. Difficult because 8% of it’s legal for medical & local chawin’. And drug mafia highly organized. In 1982 Sendero Luminoso moved into coca regions & mafia got along v. well w/army; the region boomed; now mafia may be whipping up guerillas to get army back. Can’t switch to rice or tea because coca grows in poor land, yields 4-6 harvests/yr & gets good credit, fertilizer & prices from the mafia. Wage-labor also v expensive. Creates $600m foreign exchange & is largest source of dollars