There will always be people to minimize violations of human rights and to justify those they acknowledge. This is happening now in the case of Vietnam.

At the end of the war in April, 1975, there was no bloodbath, as some of the more harsh antagonists of North Vietnam predicted. That terrible possibility not having come to pass, many Americans were pleased to turn their attention elsewhere.

Grim accounts of human rights violations in Vietnam, once fragmentary and unconfirmed, are now increasingly provided by consistent eyewitness accounts. Opponents of the former Saigon Tegime—some of them victims of its police and prison atrocities—are now in "reeducation" detention centers and prisons throughout Vietnam. Others imprisoned include largely nonpolitical artists, writers, journalists, lawyers, professors, and doctors. Judges and civil servants who once held apolitical jobs are also detained.

Thursday, June 10, 1976, was a memorable day in Lyons, France. The press had prepared the local population for the event. From cities and towns throughout the Rhone Valley^special buses, trains, and cars had brought thousands into the city. The Gerland Sports Palace was packed with well over ten thousand enthusiasts. Georges Marchais, Secretary- General of the French Communist Party, would begin his highly publicized speech to the Christians of France at 8:30 that evening.

Henry Kissinger's main contribution in Southern Africa appears to have been more in the realm of technique than of principle. Critics of the Kissinger era of American foreign policy will find little reason in Africa to stop their criticism. This is not to say there was no achievement. Perhaps that technique, which was refined in the Middle East before its export to Africa, will eventually prepare the way for principle in the Carter Administration. And perhaps not. Much depends on whether Kissinger's fast-moving diplomacy somehow preempted policy based on principle. That may be the price he had to pay South Africa's Vorster for making the "Kissinger Agreement" an immediate reality.

When a new President is elected in the United States, Latin America is visited by visible tremors of expectation. On assuming office, each U.S. President or Secretary of State, whether Republican or Democrat, manages to refer to the "special relationship" that is said to exist between the two halves of the Western Hemisphere. The heavy overtones of paternalism often associated with this pattern do not appear to be an inherent feature of its contemporary forms.

While all remained fairly quiet on the international front in Asia during 1976, it was a year of internal convulsions for many of the region's governments. Of the great powers, only the Soviet Union remained unshaken. The U.S. suffered one of its quadrennial "lame duck" run-ups to a Presidential election (with Henry Kissinger almost entirely preoccupied with diplomacy in the Middle East and Africa). China suffered the deaths of its two highest leaders, Premier Chou^En-lai on January 8, and Chairman Mao Tse-tung on September 9. Mao's demise was followed almost immediately by an amazing power struggle, which led to the swift downfall of his widow and three other members of the Politburo.

Five years is a long time to be away.

Life in a small village on the southern coast of France gets to you after a while. It seeps into your system and becomes a very comfortable existence. Can you do this for me today? No. When? Tomorrow, or maybe the day after, or maybe not until next week.