□ “We hope to bring the hijackers to full justice.” And yes, we have no bananas. The moral: Stay home until the Reagan Administration gets its act together.
□ The frenzy on the subject of South Africa has reached such a pitch that even some of our more sensible leaders are joining the ranks of the selectively indignant. In New York, during a “memorial service” bemoaning the present state of affairs in South Africa, John Cardinal O’Connor said, “Change in South Africa cannot come too quickly.” Mayor Koch compared Pretoria 1985 to Berlin 1933. Most surprisingly, in view of his political responsibilities, Secretary of State Shultz called on Pretoria to free jailed terrorist Nelson Mandela as a conciliatory gesture. By trying to direct South African policy from Washington, Shultz puts President Botha in a difficult position, and achieves no real purpose. Botha has already offered Mandela his freedom numerous times, on the condition that he renounce the use of violence. Each time, Mandela has refused. Now Botha is being pressured, by people who would not suffer from the resultant terrorism, to release a man who would, by his own admission, incite violence as soon as he was free. Shultz’s demands are empty moral posturing, nothing more.
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