Maclean's

COVER

THE SUICIDE TERRORISTS

A heavy dump truck rumbled along the sunwashed street in Kuwait City, on its way to a midmorning appointment with oblivion. It carried a deadly cargo of high explosives, a chilling message for the United States, and two fanatical young Moslems who had volunteered for a do-and-die mission.

40

THEATRE

Domestic ferment stars on Broadway

The closets of American theatre are full of family skeletons. From Eugene O’Neill to the virulent contemporary satirist Christopher Durang, complex and distorted domestic relationships have always crowded the country’s stages. That is again the case currently in New York. By Mark Czarnecki6 min

38

NATURAL HISTORY

Catastrophes that changed the world

The quandary arose two years ago, when a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and his geologist son startled the scientific community. They produced compelling evidence that the mighty dinosaurs had become extinct— not from gradual, natural processes, but because a huge asteroid had crashed into the Earth. By Pat Ohlendorf5 min

14

WORLD

Unease about the U.S. pullout

In the shade of the waterfront fire station at St. George’s, a brass band played a sample of its Christmas repertoire: a few bars of Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. In the tropical humidity, with the temperature hovering around 30° C, Grenadians went about their daily business last week with mixed emotions, ranging from shock to euphoria.

4

LETTERS

Valuing survival

It is most alarming to hear so many people now talking about the probability of a nuclear war before the year 2000—a short 16 years off (Trudeau's peace crusade, Cover, Dec. 5). If the world powers continue on the present course of arms deployment and uncompromising negotiations, the unthinkable does indeed appear possible.

6

COLUMN

Of politicians who bear gifts

It is never too late to do good.” Thus commented Secretary of State Serge Joyal on his party’s package of so-called Christmas goodies presented in the Dec. 7 speech from the throne. The speech offered no clues about how the Liberal government would actually do good but it provided more than enough good intentions to pave the way to a hundred hells. By Dian Cohen5 min

10

CANADA

Fighting to the last judge

For Ottawa and Regina, the dispute began as a relatively minor irritant, but it has now blown into a full-scale constitutional confrontation. When the Progressive Conservatives took power in Saskatchewan in May, 1982, the government began rebelling against Ottawa’s right to appoint provincial high court judges unilaterally. By DALE EISLER4 min

48

COLUMN

A stocking full of stuff

Santa baby, hurry down the chimney with some delights for the flock. They have been entertaining all year and deserve their rewards: For Ed Broadbent, a copy of Joe Miller’s Joke Book, a lifetime pass to Milton Berle’s show in Las Vegas, a tape of Tommy Douglas’ old speeches and a boxcar full of laughing gas. By Allan Fotheringham4 min

28

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Bell’s pay-as-you-call campaign

For Bell Canada, the nation’s largest phone company, the verdict was disappointing, if unsurprising. Bell released the results of a survey last week which indicated that as many as 78 per cent of 10,000 phone subscribers polled in Ontario and Quebec rejected the idea of switching from the century-old system of paying flat monthly rates for local phone calls to one that would require customers to pay for each call.

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BUSINESS WATCH

Restraint on a universal scale

Assaulting the social security system is not a special preserve of Wacky Bennett’s son, Bill. The countries of Western Europe, which provided many of the legislative examples that originally set our welfare measures in place, are cutting back those programs to avoid national bankruptcy. By Peter C. Newman4 min

16

WORLD

The trials of old generals

It took President Raúl Alfonsin only three days to graphically demonstrate that civilians rule in Argentina again for the first time since 1976. The announcement from the Casa Rosada was succinct and to the point: Alfonsín’s new administration had ordered courts martial for nine former military junta leaders on charges of permitting the torture, kidnapping and murder of as many as 30,000 people during the “dirty war” against the left in the 1970s. By JAMES NEILSON4 min