Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues,americast.usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Thu, Oct 29 1992 Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 04:43:05 EST Message-ID: 10-29 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update Oct. 29, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Thursday morning in USA TODAY: Foreign Policy, Kennedy files. TODAY'S DEBATE - FOREIGN POLICY: USA TODAY'S OPINION: Foreign policy isn't at the top of most voters' priority lists this year. The Cold War, a key issue in every election since World War II, no longer is a concern. The Persian Gulf war is over. No imminent threat screams for voters' attention. Pocketbook issues dominate the political landscape. In the presidential debate where the public asked the questions, only one was on a foreign issue. But bank on this: Foreign issues will affect your life and your wallet - maybe soon. And unlike domestic matters, where Congress shares equal power, the president's decisions dominate. Trouble spots to think about: Russia. Its economy is crumbling, and aid efforts are flagging. Recent reforms are under attack, and hardliners may challenge Boris Yeltsin before the year is over. How the U.S. responds will help decide whether Russia becomes a democracy or a dictatorship. Where will its missiles be aimed - or, worse, sold? How much money will we have to spend to defend ourselves? Trade wars loom. The next four years will decide whether the world goes down the sane, prosperous path toward free trade or whether nations surrender to fear of competition. That, as much as domestic actions, will decide how many jobs we have and how well they pay. Ethnic strife. The end of the Cold War unleashed centuries-old ethnic tensions everywhere. The slaughter in the former Yugoslavia is only the most visible example, but in an area where ethnic strife brought on World War I. The list goes on. Terrorism. Starvation. Mideast peace. Racial slaughter in South Africa. Human rights abuses from Haiti to China. The role of the U.N. The shape of the illusive "new world order." Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton, to their credit, are active internationalists, but they have differences with each other and many more with the more isolationist Ross Perot. You can get a look at some of those differences on Page 4A. By all means, keep the economy at the top of your agenda. But before you pull the lever Tuesday, consider which candidate would best protect the peace. OTHER VIEW: DOUG BANDOW, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan: Foreign policy has not been much in evidence this presidential campaign and that bothers some people. After all, they reason, there are so many problems in the world and so little time for the USA to solve them. And, of course, it is always possible that new foreign crises will break out in the near future. A president's ability to respond to global emergencies is still an important qualification for office. However, the end of the Cold War affords Washington the opportunity to view most events around the globe with detachment. Civil war in the Balkans, instability in the former Soviet republics, continuing tensions in the Middle East - all could worsen, but none is likely to threaten vital U.S. interests. The world is no longer a zero-sum game, with totalitarian communism gaining at the democratic West's expense whenever chaos threatens. There are obviously other reasons to care about world events. Who cannot be moved by the slaughter in Yugoslavia, for instance? But U.S. policymakers need to more realistically assess U.S. capabilities to influence foreign behavior. For instance, President Bush's 1992 demand that Belgrade abandon its centuries-old goal of a greater Serbia was as ineffective as his 1991 plea that Ukrainians stay under Moscow's yoke. Some problems are simply insoluble, at least by Washington. Even more important, American treasure and lives should be risked only where fundamental security interests are at stake. Good intentions on the part of Washington policymakers are not enough to put young American men and women at risk. It's about time a presidential campaign concentrated on domestic issues. The next president's administration should do so as well. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION PAPERS: TUCSON, Ariz., Belinda Payne, 55, project manager: I think the Warren Commission was pretty accurate in its report. I hope this will put it to rest, finally, and clear up the misconception that there was a conspiracy. There will still be people who won't believe it, but most people, if they get the facts, will believe the report. EUREKA, Calif., Don Mayhew, 23, student: It will reveal the CIA and military were behind the assassination, because they wanted to keep the Vietnam war going and also because Kennedy didn't want to go to war with Cuba. They haven't released the information because the government was behind it. WAUKESHA, Wis., Paula Cooley, 51, teacher: I would guess we aren't going to find out anything we don't already know. They are stirring up waters that are already muddy. Maybe there is something there, but its been almost 30 years. HORSE CAVE, Ky., W.A. Rock, 62, retired: I've been following this very closely in the news since 1963, and I don't think the materials will reveal anything that will be concrete enough to cause the populace to think there was a real conspiracy. The basic facts that are available have already been released. SWAMPSCOTT, Mass., Donald Brown, 44, administrator: It will shed further light on what happened and who may have been involved. I very definitely believe there was a conspiracy, but how far the papers will go, I don't know. The movie "JFK" raised a number of questions. Issues & Debate Editor: Kate Coughlin. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM