Thanks for the intervention - 6th anniversary of Grenada invasion - editorial

National Review, Dec 22, 1989 by John O'Sullivan

* Six years after the U.S. rescue mission, Ronald Reagan remains the most popular man in Grenada. Taxidrivers, vendors, market traders are all happy to tell their particular horror story of the "revo" and recall their relief at the arrival of U.S. forces. Of course, life has moved on, and there was only a moderate turnout at this year's anniversary celebration. But since the most common anti-American complaint is that there is no visa office at the new U.S. Embassy, serious disillusionment with Uncle Sam is some way off.

The "Intervention" has also been a success by more objective measures. Annual per-capita income has increased in the last decade from approximately $900 to $1,500; there is a building boom in progress; and a combination of repair work by U.S. forces (now departed) and U.S. aid has greatly improved the island's roads and communications.

Still, not everything is lovely in the Garden of Eden. The prices of Grenada's traditional crops are low and unemployment is high. Unemployment is a different concept, of course, on an island where three to four months' work can provide sufficient income for a pleasant life and a plentiful supply of the local white rum (best drunk by innocent visitors in the "calypso coffee" at Mamma's Restaurant). But the resulting "leisure ethic" is itself an obstacle to sustained economic growth-though, paradoxically, an incentive to tourists in search of a relaxing holiday. American Airlines starts a direct flight to the island next year. If Americans really like to be liked, as the saying has it, Grenada is the place to go. I particularly recommend it to veterans nostalgic for the liberation of Europe. They're still grateful in Grenada.

* Incidentally, spellbound by the developments in Eastem Europe, we have failed to notice the political shift in the Caribbean. As Geoffrey Wagner points out in his highly entertaining Red Calypso (Regnery Gateway), islands which were threatened ten years ago by Cuban imperialism and the Carter Administration's permissive doctrine of "ideological pluralism" (i.e., the green light for Cuban imperialism) are today firmly in the U.S. camp. The sight of Castro's former admirer, Jamaica's Michael Manley, clad firmly in a business suit and spouting praise of free enterprise well, it makes my day. Enjoy it while it lasts, Fidel.

* Attentive readers of this column (Mother!) may recall my breakfast with the Hungarian apparatchik who forecast the imminence of Hungarian democracy. Of course, I didn't believe him-the rest is history.

Well, on the evening of Inauguration Day last January, NR gave a dinner in Washington at which were present such heavy hitters as Senator Malcolm Wallop, Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, and columnist William Safire. But it was the Soviet ambassador, Yuri Dubinin, who stole the show. Eating sparingly, for it was the first of three such dinners that night (Mr. Dubinin only regrets that he has but one liver to lose for his country), he fielded tough questioning on the Soviet "new thinking" in foreign policy. Would the Soviet Union stand idly by if its European satellites went to the lengths of adopting multi-party democracy? Mr. Dubinin indicated delicately that it would. Of course, we didn't believe him. Yet, again, these things are coming to pass.

Soviet weakness rather than Soviet benevolence is doubtless the underlying explanation (I always knew that the concept of "imperial overstretch" would apply to something one day). But in the light of the evidence, can we altogether exclude NATIONAL REVIEW'S hospitality as an influence on world affairs? Maybe we should invite the Chinese ambassador over for take-out.