Abstract

Editorials

This article presents information on political conditions of several nations. Michael Dukakis has less than eight weeks to reorient his flagging campaign, summon his energies and project his vision--and win the election. As talks between solidarity leader Lech Walesa and the Polish government continued in Warsaw, neither side was flushed with optimism. Walesa had spent days persuading strikers to abandon the defiance and, solidarity that were their main weapons against a government they bitterly distrust. In July 20, while the Democrats politely argued about whether even to discuss the future of the Palestinians in the Middle East, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested one Arab-American and seven resident aliens--six Libyans and one Moroccan--charging them with "pro-Libya actions." The press, which got advance notice of the arrests, trumpeted an unsubstantiated allegation that two of the men had plotted to kill Oliver North. In such a climate of suspicion, civil rights tend to erode, and in this case Arab-American citizens and aliens who are politically active have become particularly vulnerable.