Much of the recent commentary on Lebanon has focused on its internal conflicts, giving the impression that these are primarily responsible for the current state of affairs and that only by dealing with them can the Lebanon crisis be resolved. One detects particularly in the media, but also in the statements of many analysts, the notion that Lebanon and the Lebanese are metaphysically or psychologically destined to chaos and disintegration. The implication, in other words, is that Lebanon is by its very nature a problem state.

On September 11, 1973, the Chilean military, led by General Augusto Pinochet, overthrew the Marxist-dominated government of Salvador Allende in a bloody coup. This summer, exactly a decade later, onlookers had a sense of deja vu. Once again Chile was on the front pages of the world press, and once again Santiago's hotels were filled with foreign correspondents waiting for the government to topple.

The government of the Philippines finds itself in the midst of a major political crisis, brought on by long-standing popular discontent and increasing economic difficulties. The rising tide of disaffection with the Marcos regime over suspicions of its complicity in the assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino has not yet reached its crest. The present situation is fraught with danger and opportunity.

Since Fidel Castro came to power nearly a quarter-century ago, diplomats from Latin America, politicians from North America, and academics from both hemispheres have been asking how to involve Cuba in the Caribbean peacemaking process. More often than may be warranted by evidence, they have assumed that Cuban interests are consonant with those of the other states of the Caribbean region. Any objection to the word interests as being too strong is met by a barrage of rhetorical arguments purporting to demonstrate that, at the very least, a modus vivendi is possible. But Cuban communism is a sore thumb and not easily disposed of by appeals to use the opposite hand.