The agreement stops short of creating a single state, but it links the two countries' political systems and economies. The new Community of Sovereign Republics is to be governed by a council made up of the presidents, prime ministers and parliament leaders. It is eventually to have a common constitution, budget and currency. The two countries agreed to coordinate their foreign policies and cooperate to defend their borders.
Belarussians see the agreement as a potential solution to their economic problems, although Russia may not be able to extend aid. For Russians, the agreement appeals to nostalgia for the time when their country was a great power, dominating smaller nations like Belarus. Russian nationalism and resentment of Russia's weaker status have been growing. Yeltsin evidently decided that he had to respond. Last week, Russia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus signed an agreement pledging to expand their ties.
The movement to reintegrate the former Soviet republics is understandable. Western Europe, after all, is in the process of integrating its governments through the European Union. The question is whether this movement strengthens democratic and free-market reforms or turns the clock back to Soviet imperialism.
THE provision of the Hawaii Statehood Admission Act requiring that ceded lands be used in part for the benefit of native Hawaiians is giving the state problems. As Governor Cayetano notes, the state's airports sit on portions of ceded lands, but federal law mandates that funds generated by airports be used only for airport purposes. The state hasn't been following that rule, paying part of those funds to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. If the state continues this practice, it could be sued by the federal government, the governor warns. But if the state exempts airport revenues from its payments to OHA, it would mean a drastic reduction in OHA's funding. Much remains to be done in sorting out conflicting claims to benefits from ceded lands.
VIDEOTAPE footage of a beating by Riverside County, Calif., sheriff's deputies has added a visual extension to the heated rhetoric in California over the immigration issue. Ron Prince, co-author of Proposition 187, contends the clubbing was justified because the two immigrants "did not get down on the ground as they were ordered to do." Prince says he hopes the beating "sends a message that we do not want more illegal immigration to California." Prince's outrageous comments probably do not represent the sentiments of most supporters of Proposition 187 and certainly not the governor's. But they illustrate the xenophobia that is marring efforts to deal with a real problem.
Rupert E. Phillips,CEO
John M. Flanagan,Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro,Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang,Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner,Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser,Contributing Editor