‘Peace is the main concern’
Speakers debate US foreign policy
By Brad Barton
Ot the Emerald
ASUO's Northwest National Security
Conference began Thursday with an
emotional debate on national security
policy between a military official and a
political commentator
Speaking on the topic "motivations
influencing our national security policy
and strategies after World War II,”
Robert Cocklin, a former U S Army Maj
Gen , represented the government's po
sition Cocklin is the Executive Director
of the Association of the U S Army
Author, researcher and political com
mentator Laurence Shoup attacked U S
foreign policy on several fronts
Cocklin identified several influences
on U S foreign policy since the end of
the second world war Stabilizing Eu
rope. deterring general war. containing
communism and preventing other con
flicts have been the major concerns,
Cocklin said, adding that last of these
influences has been the least successful
Through the mid-'50s, the United
States was the only country with nuclear
capabilities and nuclear deterrence
"was not a problem,” Cocklin said But
as Russia developed their own atomic
weapons, the Eisenhower administration
developed a "massive retaliation”
policy, he said
IN THE EARLY 60S, the Kennedy ad
ministration perceived a gap (in Russia's
favor) in Soviet versus American missle
deployment As a result, policy became
one of flexible response,'' to maintain a
variety of alternative reactions to "what
ever happens," Cocklin said
The government believed that Russia's
capability had grown to almost parity"
with the United States As a result, dis
cussion of mutual deterrents became
necessary, Cocklin said He identified
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Scholarship applications must be
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“think tanks "
These organizations are "not well
known,” and the public is “not well
informed" about policy motives, Shoup
said
The interests of the "upper class,”
which is the “most class-conscious,” are
different from those of the general pub
lic, Shoup said The corporate elite
wants to preserve the "status quo at
home and abroad," said Shoup He ad
ded that their interests are "the survival
of the world capitalist system.”
Shoup identified two "reinforcing
conceptual frameworks," which are
prime motivations behind the goals and
tactics of U S foreign policy One is
geo-economics: the concern with keep
ing geographic areas important to the
system within the Western orbit. The
other is geopolitics: keeping important
transportation routs between govern
ments within the Western sphere.
The tactics used to maintain the power
of the the corporate elite is not in the best
interests of the public, Shoup said He
identified several tactics that he said
support this premise.
These include:
• The cold war against socialism, a
"containment doctrine” in name, but
actually a "rollback policy” intended to
destroy world communism.
• Constant covert and overt interven
tionalism Shoup said there is an in
stance of this “every few years.”
• The threatened use of nuclear
weapons
• Support of "brutal, reactionary dicta
torships,” which exploit the common
people of underdeveloped nations by
substituting cash crops for subsistence
crops. This result is much starvation and
malnutrition.
• Alliances with powerful Western block
nations and with the largest communist
state (China), which involve "regional
control.” Examples of this include: The
United States in Latin America, France in
central Africa and Isreal in the Middle
East.
• Attempts to gain support for U S. for
eign policy by directing the human rights
issue against the Soviet Union.
Shoup said that these tactics have
endangered rather than enhanced na
tional security, calling them a “tragic
failure ” Shoup said that the nuclear
arms race threatens the very existence of
human life
He blamed the arms race on the United
States because it has threatened the use
of nuclear weapons 11 times since World
War II This strategy is used to "coerce
non-nuclear nations or threaten the
Soviets,”he claimed
Shoup said that in blaming the arms
race on the Soviet Union, the govern
ment has neglected several factors. He
explained that the United States has
instigated new weapons systems in al
most every case These include the
atomic, hydrogen and neutron bombs,
nuclear-armed submarines and Inter
continental Ballistic Missies.
Shoup also said that “the Soviets have
been much more responsible than the
United States in the nuclear non
proliferation area.” He noted the United
States vetoed the Strategic Arms Limita
tion Treaty agreements.
Shoup said that the United States has
supported, and at times even created,
third-world dictatorships. He said these
dictatorships would collapse without
support from the corporate system’s
economic interests that they serve.
In his rebuttal, Cocklin said it is
“ludicrous to suggest that corporations
run the world.” He said he “can’t accept
Shoup’s elitist group theory,” and that
“there is a will of the people that gets
expressed, and over time this is what
directs national policy.”
Former U.S.Maj. Gen. Robert Cock I in,
now Executive Director of the Associa
tion of the U.S.Army, represented the
government's position.
test-bans and non-proliferation treaties
as results of these discussions
Cocklin said the present group of mu
tually supporting treaties recognizes the
"essential equivalence" of United States
and Soviet strength, although we are
"not sure of Soviet capabilities ”
Peace is the main concern” in foreign
policy, Cocklin said He compared the
traditional American definition of peace
as “the absence of war" to the Soviet
contention that "peace can only come
when the socialist system prevails in the
world ”
We know foreign policy has been
successful, Cocklin said, because there
have been no major wars in Europe and
no use of nuclear weapons anywhere
since the end of World War II
SHOUP CLAIMS that the government
sets short-term foreign policy in re
sponse to long-range plans recom
mended by "private organizations." He
identified these organizations as Amer
ica s corporate elite in conjunction with
Pranksters misuse call boxes
Sixteen call boxes are scattered
around the University campus as part
of a University effort to deter crime But
they haven't deterred misuse by
pranksters
Even the possiblity of a $500 fine
hasn't stopped students from misusing
the call boxes — up to seven times a
day.
Like anything new. they've been
misused." says Richard Tanner, the
University's associate director of pub
lic safety
Actually, four of the brass boxes
weren't new when they were installed
four years ago; they were recycled from
navigation instruments The boxes,
water-tight and virtually maintenance
free. housed the equipment when ships
went out to sea
The use of navigation boxes help to
keep costs down The call-boxes cost
$1,500 each, including research and
development, says Harold Babcock,
director of the physical plant. The phy
sical plant build the other 12 boxes.
Three call boxes were installed Fall
term, near Walton and Bean Com
plexes and on Hayward Field near the
west grandstand New installations
near dormitories bring the most false
alarms, according to Tanner.
To use a call box, anyone who needs
assistance hits the call box button,
triggering an alarm system at the
security office. A board lights up to
indicate the location of the call and
ractoo signals allow conversation
between the dispatcher and the caller
If circumstanses indicate a serious
incident, security officers are sent at
once
Tanner says that for every call with
no verbal response, officers must be
sent out because the student may have
been yanked away from the call box
speaker before a response was possi
ble.
They can’t take the chance that the
caller is crying wolf, Tanner says.
“It's a dangerous prank The officer
must drop what ever he's doing and
respond, which takes between 15 and
20 minutes of his time, he says It costs
the taxpayers money. It’s not funny."
To deter students from hitting the
button as a practical joke, signs were
recently posted on all call boxes in
forming them that such action could
bring violators a $500 fine.
“Quite a few students are not aware
that they can be used for
non-emergency situations as well,”
says Tanner Assistance of any type,
including campus directions, can be
obtained from the service
PANEL DISCUSSION
WITH
THE
POLISH
CRISIS
TUESDAY,
MARCH 2, 7:30 pm
EMU 167
SPONSORED BY THE UO RUSSIAN AND EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES CENTER
JOSEPH FISZMAN
(DEPT OF POLITICAL
SCIENCE)
JEANNE JAZOVICK
(JAGIELLONIAN U ,
KRAKOW)
GEORGE MAKOWSKI
(GTF. DEPT OF
HISTORY)
STEVE REYNOLDS
(DEPT OF RELIGIOUS
STUDIES)
RON WIXMAN (DEPT OF
GEOGRAPHY)
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