6 - Sunday, January 13, 1991 - North Shore News INSIGHTS NEWS VIEWPOINT That’s entertainment ficial nation-wide beef-session, the Citizen’s Forum on Canada’s Future, dished up « variety of unpalatable comments last Tuesday, the first day of the forum, The 12-member committee has the unenviable task of assessing Canadians’ viewpoints on the future of their country. But already the forum has lapsed into a fiasco of feuding anglophones and fran- cophones and hss heard an accusation from Vancouver representative Diana Hu that too little time was allotted to express concerns of British Columbians. But who ever heard of a country being formed as a result of 2 panel discussion? True, public input is supposed to be part P tee cadonn IN Canada’s of- of democracy, but exnerience tells us that that “‘input’’ will mereiy be ‘‘put in’ files where it will remain for posterity while politicians glibly acknowledge that the people’s voice was heard. If the government wants unity it can start by showing leadership to its people by handling its own affairs and trimming the fat from its bloated bureaucracy (CBC, regrettably, was a start) - Or why not have another provincial Jeaders’ summit in which these issues couid oe hammered out by experienced statesmen sith specific changes and policies in mind? The Citizen’s Forum amounts to nothing more than a state-sanctioned Punch and Judy show staged at the taxpayer’s ex- pense, in both senses of the word. NEWS QUOTES OF THE WEEK “Some of them say to me, ‘Don’t. tell anyone I'm on the program, 1 still] want to lock drugged out and Starved.’ Fitness guru Charles Curtis, on training rock stars. ‘We often see the arts as ‘loosy- goosy’ — that they’re not as im- portant as say, transportation or other industries. But when you relate it to urban development the growth of the arts is crucial.” B.C. Festival of the Arts coor- dinator Stuart Backerman, on the importance of arts and the festi- val, which will be held this year in North Vancouver District from Publisher Associate Editor _. envelope Peter Speck Managing Editor Timotny Renshaw . Noel Wright Advertising Director Linda Stewart North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an ndepencent Suburban newspaper and qualities under Schedule 111, Paragrapn til of the Excise Tas Act. 1s publshec eacn Weanesday. Fnday ana Sunday by Nartn Shore Free Press Lid ana astrouted to every door on the Morin Shore Secong Class Mai! Registration Numoe: 2685 Subscriptions Nortn ana West Vancouver, $25 per year Mailing rates avalapie on request Supmissions are welcome Dut we cannot accent responsipility tor unsohuitec maternal including ma*usctipts and pictures s whicn snould be accompamec oy a Stamped, addressed May 22 to 26. “They are doing it for free; they have found that although religion is boring, Jesus is something to celebrate.”’ Evangelist Michael Green of UBC's Regent College, on why 50 of his students from all over the world will be sharing their evangelistic Celebration of Hope message in informal meetings around the North Shore. “Everyone has a Golden Age in mind when things in their essence were perfect, and if you analyze it, you'll find that time was be- tween the 1920s aad the 1930s. THE VOICE OF MORTH ANO WEST DARCOUVEH er rr rors 1139 Lonsdale Avenue. North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 58,170 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) te > SOA DIVISION Display Advertising Classified Advertising Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions Fax But everyone’s Golden Age is dif- ferent, and they want to cling to that. Residents are looking back 20 years and the planners are locking 20 years ahead.”’ Architect Graham Crockart, on architecture and town planning. “The military goes where the poli- ticians want them toa go. Therefore, they deserve all the public support that they can get, because I don't think that too many of them — given the choice — would want to be there."” Local resident lan Newby, on supporting the Canadian armed forces in the Persian Gulf. 980-0511 985-3227 Tl MEMBER E'UN still up against the Rambo factor TWO DAYS from the deadline for Iraq te quit Kuwait ’'m still left with some unanswered questions about the war which —- at this writing — is widely billed as unavoidable. The first being: Who’s in charge on our side? The United Nations or the United States? For obvious and inevitable reasons the UN military presence in Saudi Arabia is predominantly a U.S. presence. Nervous Arab neighbors ac- count for one-quarter of the total forces of some 860,000 arrayed against Iraq. Among the 17 or so “offshore’’ nations involved, the U.S. is providing almost 70 per cent of the personnel, over 80 per cent of the warplanes and more than 90 per cent of the tanks. In practice it will therefore fall to the U.S. commander to coordinate as far as possible any military action. So who gives the final order to start shooting? George Bush? Or UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar —- who arrived in Baghdad yesterday on a “‘last- ditch’’ peace effort? ‘*Last ditch’’ leads to the ques- tion of the Jan. 15 UN deadline itself, which authorizes the use of forces to eject the Iraqis from Kuwait if they haven’t left by that date. What the UN resolution does NOT say is that missiles and air strikes must automatically be unleashed against Iraq at one minute past midnight on Jan. 16, should the invaders still be hang- ing in — though more than a few people seem to assume that’s the scenario. NO specific date has been set for the allied fireworks to begin. The UN has simply told Saddam Hussein: ‘‘If you’re not gone by Jan. 15, you may be clobbered at any time without further warn- ing!”’ Nothing in the UN stance rep- resents any Chamberlain-type ap- peasement of that 1991-model Hitler. But it does leave the next step — military OR diplomatic — solely up to the UN, provided that body is calling the shots. So if, in fact, de Cuellar [S in charge, ‘‘last ditch’’ talk seems rather premature at this point. The other big riddle concerns Israel, which Saddam has prom- ised to ‘‘destroy’’ immediately hostilities start — despite Israel’s total non-involvement to date. No question about Iraq’s ability to inflict huge civilian casualties with a concentrated chemical missile attack on major Israeli cit- ies — nor about Israel’s im- mediate and massive retaliation. But the POLITICAL price for the UN and its U.S. agent could be disastrous, which is the reason for wily Saddam’s threat. Noe! Wright HITHER AND YON Resistance to naked aggression backed by the impeccable moral autherity of the UN would be symbolically translated into the Middle East nightmare of a U.S.- Israeli war against Arab champi- ons of Palestine. How long the always fragile U.3.-Arab coalition now opposing Iraq would then survive is anyone’s guess. It would again demonstrate the limits of purely moral authority in a world where Rambo was a box office sell-out. And that, alas, looks like the way it’s going to be until the UN has an army of its own — bigger and better armed than ANYONE else's. aes POSTSCRIPTS: Your calculator is in better shape than raine if you can make any sense of that table in Hon. Mary Collins’ latest report to her Capilano constitu- ents showing ‘‘GST savings.” I'd take the thing back to Otto Jelinek, Mary, tell him it doesn’t work and you want to exchange it for six tax-exempt donuts! ... What better time than Robbie Burns month to get in shape with Royal Scottish Dancing? Courses with a qualified teacher for beginners and intermediate start next Friday, Jan. 18, from 8 to 10 p.m. at Carisbrooke School, North Van — call Helen, 987- 5450, about enrolling ... And please remember to make a date tomorrow or Tuesday, Jan. 14-15, between 2:30 and 8 p.m. to give your gift of life at the Lions Gate Hospital blood donor clinic. eee WRIGHT OR WRONG: Things always average out. If you think too much of yourself, others won’t. = UNITED NATIONS headquarters complex ... located in Manhat- tan, New York, on international territory by the East River.