December 6, 1982

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COVER

A DOOMSDAY DECISION

The news caught up with Ed Herschler in Denver, where the Wyoming governor was attending a conclave of western state leaders. He already knew the details. He had been briefed in advance by the White House. But when President Ronald Reagan’s decision to base the MX intercontinental ballistic missile near Cheyenne, Wyo., was officially made public last week, the folksy Herschler evoked the bittersweet dilemmas of nuclear strategists by likening the announcement to word of “a mother-in-law driving your new Cadillac over a cliff, or your teenage daughter coming home at 3 a.m. with a Gideon Bible under her arm.” In short, from Herschler’s sensitive vantage point the MX plan contained both good points and bad.

DATELINE: THAILAND

The deadly politics of opium

Thailand’s up-country villages are among the most remote and bucolic in the world, but not Ban Hin Taek, a rugged hill town nestled in a spur of Thai territory clawing toward the Burmese border eight kilometres away. Earlier this year, when the smoke cleared after three days of intense fighting between 800 Thai border patrol police and the rebel troops of opium warlord Khun Sa, the police moved in to uncover luxurious villas and a sports complex replete with swimming pool and tennis court. By Daniel Burstein10 min

BUSINESS

Trying to control protectionism’s tide

The invitations indicated that the event would be pleasant enough. It was intended as an 8 a.m. gathering for key officials attending a special session of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that would feature 40 minutes of Lake Geneva scenery and Swiss cuisine. By John Hay, Iain Guest10 min

CANADA

The troubled northern dream

The irony was unsettling. Indian and Northern Affairs Minister John Munro had planned to announce that the federal government was going to move to overcome one long-standing problem posed by Canada’s vast North—an agreement in principle to the political division of the Northwest Territories.

The explosive course of deceptive apartheid laws

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Q&A: DONALD WOODS

The explosive course of deceptive apartheid laws

In a controversial move earlier this month the International Monetary Fund approved a $1.1-billion loan to South Africa. The loan had been strongly opposed by Third World nations that object to South Africa’s apartheid policies. But the weight of a country ’s vote within the IMF is determined by its economic strength, and many of the more economically powerful Western nations, including Canada and the United States, supported the loan.

COVER

MX’s job: survive attack then hit back—hard

The the Soviet Arctic skies, missiles ultimately speed across bound for the big United States intercontinental ballistic missile base in southeastern Wyoming. Long-range U.S. radar picks up the first blips indicating the penetration of the continent’s northernmost defences.

CANADA

Seal wars: the final battle?

The Walt Disney saga of Canada’s famous seal pups rushes toward its climax this week. The denouement will be far from the deafening ice floes of the St. Lawrence and the Labrador front. It will take place in a quiet boardroom in Copenhagen.

PASSAGES

RECUPERATING: Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, 82, at her London residence, after undergoing minor surgery to remove a fish bone from her throat. The Queen Mother was taken to the King Edward VII Hospital for Officers for emergency treatment when efforts by a doctor who was a dinner guest failed to dislodge the obstruction.

IMMIGRATION

A new battlefield for India’s Sikhs

Reports of mass arrests and police brutality toward adherents of the Sikh religion in India’s fertile Punjab state provoked leaders of Toronto’s brotherhood to put aside bitter sectarian differences last month and embrace a common cause: a denunciation of what they view as oppression of their coreligionists by the government of India.

COLUMN

Backward into the starter’s gate

The old Russian joke has this guy in a bar, a visitor from the West, getting a bit too much juice on board and asking people what they think of Khrushchev. The Russian he’s talking to takes the Westerner out into a deserted alley, looks all around to make sure no one is watching, and whispers, “I like him.” Something like that is happening now to Conservative Leader Joe Clark. By Charles Gordon5 min

November 291982