4 — Wednesday, July 1, 1992 - North Shore News The world is as saved as it’s going to be THE EARTH Summit turned out to be a bit of a molehiil. : But history raced to overtake itself and within a matter of days, the big UN eco-show was prac- tically swamped by the ripples from the biggest, most en- vironmentally-significant event in all time, namely the signing of a treaty between the U.S, and Russia to slash nuclear weapons by a whopping two-thirds within a decade, starting with the in- famous SS-18s, the ones that can travel 7,500 miles, unleashing t0 warheads apiece, each capable of finding a separate city to utterly destroy. No dragon in mythology ever boasted that kind of firepower. No more dangerous dragons, even in our worst dreams, ever hovered over our lives or all of humanity, to say nothing of the biosphere. ~ Don't mind me. I'm a bit daz- ed. 1¢ was little more than a month ago that France announced a suspension of nuclear testing in the South Pacific. And just a couple of weeks ago, the British Navy announced it would be phasing out nuclear weapons from all vessels except submarines, Now here is Russia jaying its SAVEB SS” biggest missiles at the feet of the American Congress, the new Romans. And the Americans themselves agreeing to much big- ger cuis than anyone dared dream even a few months ago. Of course, costly and dangerous stockpiles continue to exist. But Boris Yeltsin says the 308 SS-18s are already being taken off com- bat readiness status. This follows reports months ago that the North American Air Defence Command has taken the B-52s off 24-hour flying patrols, allowing them to rest on the tar- mac. It was interesting that in his his- toric address to Congress, Yeltsin specifically referred to the televi- sion series The Day After, which, you may recall, brought a slightly realistic depiction of a post- nuclear war. world to mass televi- sion audiences, including the Soviet Union. “The world was shaken by the storms of confrontation,”’ Yeltsin said. ‘‘lt was close to exploding; close to perishing beyond salva- tion. That evil scenario is becom- ing a thing of the past. “Reason begins to triumph over madness. We have left behind the period when America and Russia tooked at each other through gun- sights, ready to pull the trigger any time.” “RECESSION CRUNCHER!- OVER 1 MILLION DOLLAR INVENTORY OF ESTATE ARTICLES & ANTIQUES Jiu . AUCTION TO START AT 3 P.M. SHARP FREE RUGS WILL BE GIVEN OUT EVERY HOUR FURNITURE — ORIENTAL RUGS — JEWELLERY — PAINTINGS * DON’T MISS THIS EVENT * BEST VALUE AUCTION EIOUSIE 5775 MARINE DR., WEST VANCOUVER (FISHERMAN’S COVE) CONSIGNMENTS |. 921-3352. |. APPRAISALS. Special Savings until The perfect opportunity to give your treasured diamonds new lite. Select from many exciting new designs. Bob | STRICTLY PERSONAL Whew! Glad to hear it. Sitting in the middle between those Americans and Russians, | for one always fervently hoped the day would come when the bear and the eagle would lighten up and leave the beaver to go his own sweet way, clearcutting forests and poisoning estuaries, as is his wont. I tried ta explain to my 13- year-old and eight-year-old how the world had changed with the signing of that piece of paper in Washington, D.C., pledging to drastically reduce nuclear arsenals. “tt means we won’t get blown up by the weekend.”’ They just look at me like Pma nutcase. Dad and his nuclear Ar- mageddon paranoia stuff, It’s great to be humored by children not old enough to remember Vietnam, never mind the Cuban Missile Crisis. I'm increasingly of the mind that the world is as saved as it’s going to be, or can be. The act of pulling 125-foot missiles from their concrete silos, extracting their warheads and dumping the two-stage carcasses onto a scrap heap does more to preserve the biodiversity of Planet Earth than the entire treaty signed a week before in Rio de Janeiro. By stepping firmly back from a nuclear exchange, the Americans and Russians have done more than their fair share of preserving the environment. That’s why it was so ironic that George Bush presented himself at Rio as the Great Satan of the en- vironment, willing to consign en- tire rainforests to their doom merely to preserve a handful of high-tech jobs in the States, while playing the lackey to the pet- roleum industry. Incredible per- formance! Yet a week later, he agreed to a deal to slash his stockpile of 21,000 nuclear warheads down to 6-7,000 0 by the year 2000. With Yeltsin more than mat- ching this stand-down, it means the threat of nuclear annihilation really has receded for our children and grandchildren, and this is not just George Bush campaign rhetoric. What will the guy be remembered for? Signing the big- gest nuclear reduction agreement ever, or being the loathesome idiot who kneecapped the Earth Sum- mit? By comparison, our boy Brian looked good. He was the first world leader to agree to sign the Biodiversity Treaty. He also went ahead and signed the climate change convention, even though it had been defanged by the Americans and was almost as bad as useless. In a similar vein, he wrote off $145 million in debts to South American countries if they make matching efforts to protect rain- forests and endangered species. These are not just interesting times. They are astounding times. I'm beginning to suspect that 1 had better be prepared to believe that anything is possible. 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