Writing about fascism can get one in trouble. "Fascist" is used to describe every nasty person—from Mussolini and his henchmen to ill-tempered policemen and professors who expect their students to complete assignments. No wonder that anyone using the term to analyze politics in the Third World is immediately suspected of being in the pay of the Israelis—or worse. (The present author can state categorically that he is in the pay of no government, Alas!) Nevertheless, many political scientists have concluded that fascism models are useful for coming to grips with the tumultuous politics of the underdeveloped world. This article explores some of the reasons for and implications of that conclusion

No question of foreign affairs surpasses the arms race in terms of moral complexity and moral content. Along with the correlative issue of world poverty, the arms race forms the heart of the moral agenda of foreign policy. The Roman Catholic bishops of our country attach overriding significance to the arms race and its threat to the sacredness of life.

The massive technical complexity of the arms race in its political and strategic dimensions is something that people in our government grapple with daily. We respect that technical complexity and have tried to assimilate it in this testimony. At the same time, for the church the arms race is principally a problem defined in religious and moral categories. The specter of war, in any form, raises for Christian ethics the central question of the taking of human life.

I would like to indicate some of the things that we have been trying to accomplish in the U.N. and some problems we see on the horizon.

Historically U.S. policy toward Southern Africa has been developed in a multilateral context, and that is appropriate. With the exception of the Republic of South Africa, all southern African territories became a responsibility of the international community under Article 73, Chapter 11 of the U.N. Charter. The exceptions to this multilateral approach for U.S. policy were Angola and Mozambique, where relations with Portugal and NATO tended to determine policy.

I cite the multilateral background to show that we have changed our views of Southern Africa as we have changed our attitudes toward Africa in the U.N. Early in the history of the U.N., the U.S. was an enthusiastic backer of decolonialization. We even risked difficulties with our World War II allies, France and the United Kingdom.

In May, a brief communication from a source close to my family in Saigon informed me that they have just learned that my father, Tran Van Tuyen, whom they had not seen since he was sent to “reeducation” detention in June, 1975, died in confinement “in the North” on October 28, 1976.

This sad message from Vietnam coincides with news just released by Hanoi's embassy in Paris to Amnesty International and the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, stating that my father died of a “cerebral hemorrhage.” Curiously, when Pham Van Dong, prime minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, visited Paris in the spring of 1977, he told people making human rights inquiries about my father that he was still alive; and earlier this year Hanoi's propaganda machine released a barrage of attacks against my father.

we are are here to pay tribute to Pedro Joaquin Chamorro—a colleague and friend. A great editor and a champion of truth, he was, above all, a great Liberator who has fallen in battle in the still unfinished War of Independence of Nicaragua. For truly, in all but three of the countries of Latin America, the unfinished Wars of Independence cruelly continue against military oppressors who are despoiling their peoples.