June 1, 1988
INF Treaty Put into Force
At the conclusion of the Moscow summit meeting, President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev signed the INF Treaty, putting it into force. This is a significant step toward dismantling nuclear weapons and for peace in the world. There is a general feeling as if the time of the Cold War was over.
During the summit meeting, pictures from Moscow on everyday Russian life were broadcast on television. They left impressions of a touching, simple humanity. It would be about time for Russia and the West to come closer together on a human level.
[St. Louis], June 21, 1988
The Great Drought
Since the Dust Bowl, the wide parched stretches of land in Oklahoma and the Middle West in the 1930s, America has not had such a devastating drought as this year. For two months and a half not a single drop of rain has fallen on large parts of the country. The Midwest is especially hard hit; record temperatures of 100 degrees F and above form a heat block that dries up all vegetation. From the Dakotas through Iowa, Missouri, all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico, and from Montana through Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana to Ohio much of the harvest has been destroyed. There are emergency slaughters of cattle taking place because the forage to feed the animals is just not available anymore. Large sections of the Midwest are burned brown and river beds dried up. Crossing the mighty Mississippi here at St. Louis, one can see sandbanks sticking out. The navigation has come to a standstill. Vast areas of the United States are facing a disastrous year.
How is this drought to be explained? Is it part of a 50-year climate cycle in North America, or is it an indication of a global climate change? Is it the result of the frequently mentioned greenhouse effect caused by the constant emission of carbon dioxide by industry and the exhaust gases of motor vehicles? Climatologists agree that it is the combined effect of both elements.
South Bend, June 29, 1988
Gorbachev Put to the Test
The special Party Convention, which is presently taking place in Moscow - the first of its kind since Lenin’s time - puts Mikhail Gorbachev to the test. Will he be able to succeed with his extensive reforms? Are glasnost and perestroika convincing enough to soften up the petrified Communist Party organization? Anyway, Gorbachev’s attempt at renewing and democratizing the Soviet Union is a positive sign that the East Bloc is more adjusting to the West.