In Beirut the ordeal of the three French hostages ended as abruptly as it had begun. Last Wednesday evening a Mercedes roared up to the Summerland Hotel, carrying Diplomats Marcel Carton and Marcel Fontaine and Journalist Jean-Paul Kauffmann, who had been held captive since 1985. Syrian security forces hustled the men to Beirut International Airport, and by the next morning they arrived in Paris for a joyous reunion with their families.
Almost simultaneously with the release in the Middle East, the quiet of a South Pacific dawn in Ouvea, New Caledonia, was broken by the dull thud of smoke bombs and...