EDITORIAL A new world order?

A new world order? Well, anyone who thinks the U.S. will be leading us to a new millennium of peace and harmony is going to be disappointed. In the wake of the United Nations successful expulsion of Iraq from Kuwait, the political reality that emerges may be new, but it will hardly resemble anything like order. .T The U.N. force was, of course, led by the U.S. The U.S. has gained such stature as a result of the remarkably easy military success, its past policy of huge defense spending has been so co nvincingly vindicated, that its role on the world stage has once again become dominant at least for the time being. A year ago, the U.S. was seen as a tottering economic giant bowed by a debt load impossible to carry. Now it is considered to be at the zenith of its powers, an empire a out to bestow its beneficence on all. In fact American economic power has been little changed by the war. It is still, by far, the largest economy in the world, but it is still on shaky ground when compared with Japan and Germany. Its military might is indeed unrivalled, but there is no reason to believe that the U.S. will have any greater success in settling the festering disputes of the Mideast. Fighting has gone on for thousands of years in the region and will likely continue for a long time into the fut ure. The new world order that we are likely to see emerge will be one of great shifts and uncertainty. Will the U.N.s credibility be enhanced by the Gulf War or will it become merely a puppet of U.S. foreign policy? Will Israel be bolstered by the success of its greatest ally or will the U.S. test its new powers of persuasion by imposing a Palestinian solution that will compromise Israel’s long-standing position? What will Irans role be in the aftermath of the war a friend to the U.S. once more? Might not Saddam Hussein live to fight another day? And where will the Soviet Union fit into this Mideast morass? A new world order? We are not convinced it will be an improvement. But while the political situation becomes clearer, there is hope that renewed confidence in the U.S. wil l renew confidence in the economy. That could help shorten this recession and let us all get on with the business of day-to-day living.