A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

omic and social problems , more severe than those of most cities in Russia . As 

fat subsidies from Moscow dry up , huge defense plants that used to churn out na

vigational systems and warplanes are switching over to TVs and automatic bowling

 pin setters for Asian markets but not fast enough to avoid mounting layoffs and

 unpaid workers . Alongside the newly rich , a new class of unemployed and impov

erished is rapidly taking shape . City officials say a third of Vladivostok 's 7

00,000 civilians are living below the poverty line . Prices , the highest in Rus

sia , soared last year as annual inflation here reached 1,300 percent , nearly h

alf again the national average . The emerging extremes of wealth and poverty are

 fueling a wave of crime and corruption , including a murder rate that has jumpe

d by five times in five years and now rivals Washington 's . The crime rate is t

hree times the national average , and the tough guys are having a field day . Se

rgei Bachurin , 31 , an entrepreneur whose business leverage includes a 12-gauge

 `` Vinchester '' and 20 stocky enforcers , controls the local Chinese market , 

where merchants from across the border peddle cheap track suits , plastic shoes 

and video games . `` The Russian mafia is a good mafia , '' he said after displa

ying his shotgun for a visitor in the middle of the crowded entryway to his mark

et . Tall and lean , with a close-cropped blond beard , Bachurin is a former gol

d miner who now strolls around in a double-breasted red blazer , chalk-striped f

lannel pants and long black leather coat when he isn't in jail trying to beat on

e rap or another . `` My bodyguards , '' he said , `` can kill anyone . They can

 do this perfectly , because I trained them myself . '' In the face of this expl

osion of disorder , the authorities are swamped . The Vladivostok police force ,

 which has just two computers , is hiring hundreds of new cops . City prosecutor

s , lacking any official cars , ride trolleys to their investigations . `` In th

e United States , you passed this racketeering stage long ago , '' said Chief Pr

osecutor Vyacheslav Yaroshenko . `` We 're just entering it . '' Alexander Kuchi

nski , a young scientist who was a precinct chief for a former mayor , said the 

new city authorities are thoroughly corrupt , bent on `` attracting foreigners o

nly for their personal profit . '' But in the long run , he said , Vladivostok w

ill make it . `` Sooner or later the new , business-minded people will win , '' 

he said . `` The old guard is trying to keep control , but I think and hope that

 sooner or later we 'll get rid of them . New forces are growing fast here . ''

 JERICHO , West Bank In an old public works building , Palestinian men sit in th

e stifling heat dressed in revolvers , white shirts and ties the latter a sure s

ign they are not locals . They give each visitor a hard , probing look . This is

 the new West Bank headquarters of the Palestinian secret police , whose quick a

ppearance on the scene rings for some an ominous note among the celebrations ove

r Israeli withdrawal . `` They are aiming at people like me . There is no questi

on , '' said Riyad Malki , an engineering professor identified with a group oppo

sed to Yasser Arafat 's Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization .

 The dictatorships that abound in the Middle East often use secret police `` muh

abarat '' in Arabic to do the dirty work of eliminating opposition to their regi

mes : eavesdropping , wiretapping , midnight arrests , torture , and sometimes p

olitical assassination . Palestinians here have not been reassured by the select

ion of Jabril Rajoub to head the secret police in Jericho . Few wish to speak fo

r attribution of the man who spent 17 years in Israeli prisons and six years in 

exile , where he is reputed to have helped direct attacks against both Israelis 

and Palestinian foes . `` Everybody 's afraid . The guy 's a tough cookie , '' s

aid one well-connected Palestinian . Said another : `` He 's the one in charge o

f ` dirty deeds . ' Watch out for him . '' Rajoub , 41 , paints a different pict

ure of himself and his force . `` I wouldn't call it muhabarat , '' he said . ``

 In the Third World , that means terror , interrogation , imprisonment and so on

 . Our job is to protect the inhabitants and ensure the rights of opposition to 

express their views in a decent way . '' His force , he said , officially is cal

led `` Preventive Security . '' He makes reference to operating under `` democra

tic principles , '' trying to assure Palestinians who fear a Fatah autocracy . H

is men will be armed , and work in plainclothes . He declines to say how many th

ere will be . It will work throughout the West Bank . He refuses to say how they

 will operate against the opposition if , for example , they will disarm other P

alestinian groups . `` I don't think we can solve these problems through the med

ia , '' he replies . `` How we deal with our people is our responsibility and ou

r job . '' The agreement with Israel to begin Palestinian autonomy in Jericho an

d the Gaza Strip permits formation of Palestinian units for `` public security '

' and `` intelligence . '' Those units are supposed to be within the Palestinian

 Police force . Rajoub said , however , the secret police report directly to PLO

 Chairman Arafat . Later , he acknowledged he also will report to Mesbah Hanafi 

Sakr , a mysterious PLO `` general '' said to have hidden from the Israelis for 

27 years in the Gaza Strip , and whom few people say they have ever met . ( Begi

n optional trim ) Rajoub is curt to questions about his activities during six ye

ars of exile . `` Why do you ask such questions , '' he replied , irritated . Ra

joub returned to the West Bank last week to a hero 's welcome . He was imprisone

d for life at age 17 for a grenade attack against an Israeli army truck . He bec

ame a leader inside prison , where he learned Hebrew and English and eventually 

became a representative of the prisoners to the authorities . He was released in

 a large prisoner-swap deal in 1985 , and spent three years working with Faisal 

al-Husseini in East Jerusalem . In 1988 , he was deported by Israel , and he sai

d he spent the rest of the time in Tunis . Israelis believe his job while in Tun

is was to organize Fatah operations in the West Bank and within Israel . Accordi

ng to Yigal Carmon , former advisor to the Israeli government on terrorism , Raj

oub was one of those involved in a plot to recruit an Israeli to murder of top o

fficials of the Israeli government , including Yitzhak Rabin , then defense mini

ster and now prime minister . The murder plan was foiled before an attempt was m

ade . `` I guess Mr. Rabin doesn't take it personally , '' he said of the govern

ment 's approval of Rajoub 's return . ( End optional trim ) Israel agreed to th

e creation of a security force in hopes it will be like the Israeli secret servi

ce the Shabak and act against extreme opposition groups to stop attacks on Israe

lis . `` This is not our duty , '' declares Rajoub . `` If Israel asks for full 

and total security , we can assure that only if we have full and total authority

 over our land , which we do not . '' If they caught a Palestinian who attacked 

Israelis , they would not turn the suspect over to Israeli authorities , he said

 : `` It 's not mentioned in the agreement . '' `` Our relationship with the Isr

aelis is not one of friends , '' he said last week , in explaining why there wou

ld be `` no coordination '' between his forces and those of Israel . Other Pales

tinians believe Rajoub 's main purpose will be to assert control over opposition

 for the benefit of Fatah , not Israel . `` He will do those things that are not

 known , so that nobody will be accountable , '' said Ghassan Khatib , who is id

entified with the opposition Palestinian People 's Party . Malki from another gr

oup at odds with Arafat , the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said

 it is telling that Arafat installed a security apparatus even before a civil go

vernment is formed . `` I fear a lot about the future , '' he said . The secret 

police `` will be observing the people , watching everybody . They will stop any

 protest , any opposition , '' he said . `` I have been threatened three times i

n the last two years that my place will be in the prison '' when Fatah authoriti

es take control , he said . `` In the last 10 or 20 years , I didn't really feel

 my life was threatened , '' he said . `` Now the possibility is becoming real .

 These are people who don't really mind eliminating their own . ''

 WASHINGTON Bill Clinton , who has staked his presidency on achieving bold domes

tic policy goals , suddenly appears to be jeopardizing his political future with

 his handling of U.S. foreign policy . The evidence is accumulating : Some of Cl

inton 's poll ratings are wilting ; Republicans including former President Bush 

and GOP presidential prospects for 1996 are pounding him and discontent is sprea

ding on Capitol Hill . And with foreign policy dilemmas plaguing him around the 

globe , stretching from Haiti to Bosnia to North Korea and China , the future of

fers the president little hope for relief . Amid preparations for Clinton 's tri

p to Europe next week to commemorate the 50th anniversary of D-Day and to bolste

r strained relationships with Western allies , some advisers wonder whether the 

president might have underestimated the importance of foreign policy while he wa

s lavishing attention on domestic issues . `` I can envision a Republican candid

ate in 1996 , someone like ( former Defense Secretary ) Dick Cheney or ( former 

Secretary of State ) Jim Baker , who campaigns on the slogan : ` It 's foreign p

olicy , stupid , ' ' ' fretted a veteran of Clinton 's 1992 campaign . Indeed , 

the Republicans are already on the attack . `` Our leadership around the world i

s being eroded by a stop-and-start policy of hesitancy , '' Bush said at a GOP f

und-raiser in Milwaukee last week , according to a report in the Milwaukee Senti

nel newspaper . Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole , R-Kan. , a potential president

ial contender in 1996 , mocked Clinton 's recent 90-minute televised news confer

ence on international affairs . `` You shouldn't have to have a television show 

with someone scripting the answers to demonstrate what you know about leadership

 , '' Dole said at a party rally in Atlanta . The basic grievance against Clinto

n is this : In dealing with an array of problems abroad , such as the bloody con

flict in Bosnia , the intransigence of the military regime in Haiti , the nuclea

r threat from North Korea and human rights violations in China , he seems to hav

e talked loudly but carried a small stick . `` I continue to look for new soluti

ons , '' the president has said in his own defense . His supporters blame his di

fficulties on the turbulent state of post-Cold War diplomacy , which has forced 

him to sail on uncharted seas . While some Americans are urging him to steer cle

ar of foreign crises , others are demanding stronger action . `` You 're damned 

if you do and damned if you don't , '' argued Democratic National Chairman David

 Wilhelm . `` These are tough and difficult situations . '' `` The president is 

getting a bad rap , '' said House Speaker Thomas S. Foley , D-Wash. , who conten

ds that Clinton does not get the credit that he deserves for winning congression

al approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement . Likening present condit

ions to the chaotic years following World War II , Foley noted that it took Pres

ident Harry S. Truman nearly two years to develop policies for dealing with the 

Soviet Union . But some analysts warn that Clinton 's penchant for wheeling and 

dealing contrasted with Truman 's characteristic bluntness and decisiveness can 

backfire in foreign policy . `` In foreign policy , it 's important to present a

 firm image , '' said Princeton University presidential scholar Fred Greenstein 

. `` With Clinton , it 's like globs of mercury ; he 's all over the place . '' 

Clinton 's task is not an easy one . `` In the post-Cold War era , no one knows 

what foreign policy ought to be , '' conceded Leslie Gelb , a former State Depar

tment official in the Jimmy Carter administration . Gelb now serves as president

 of the Council on Foreign Relations . Yet Clinton 's critics argue that the pre

sident is making the job more difficult with his inconsistencies . `` You can't 

go Chinese menu week by week on foreign policy and expect the American people to

 support you , '' said Hodding Carter III , who was spokesman for the State Depa

rtment during the Carter administration . Clinton 's policies are drawing fire a

cross the political spectrum . From the right , House Minority Whip Newt Gingric

h , R-Ga. , scoffs at Clinton 's initiative for dealing with the potential flood

 of refugees from Haiti by establishing seaborne processing centers . `` There i

s a level of sloppiness about this administration that is kind of scary , '' the

 conservative Georgia congressman said . From the left , Maurice Paprin , head o

f the liberal-oriented Fund for New Priorities , left a recent White House brief

ing convinced that U.S. policy toward Haiti is `` as unclear and muddy as it was

 before . '' The president seemingly raised the political stakes for his Haiti p

olicies recently when he offered a detailed justification for U.S. invasion of t

hat strife-torn island nation if economic sanctions do not force the military go

vernment from office . But if the Haitian regime stands firm despite the sanctio

ns , Clinton will have to risk launching a military assault with unforeseeable c

onsequences or face intensified complaints that he lacks the will to manage fore

ign policy . Even longtime allies of the president , such as Rep. Dave McCurdy ,

 D-Okla. , who chairs the Democratic Leadership Council , the centrist group tha

t helped propel Clinton to the presidency , have joined the disapproving chorus 

. `` We have conducted ourselves abroad with an unsteady hand , '' McCurdy said 

in an address to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco last month . `` In Bosni

a , blustery rhetoric faded into reluctant diplomacy. .. . On North Korea , we h

ave been anything but decisive . '' Republicans warn that shifting positions on 

current problems can create even more serious troubles in the future . `` To the

 extent that you use up your credibility , then when you get into a real crisis 

you 'll pay the price , '' former Defense Secretary Cheney told members of the N

ational Retail Federation earlier this month . Clinton is already paying a polit

ical price for the controversies surrounding his foreign policy , according to r

ecent polls . Only 40 percent of those interviewed in a Washington Post-ABC News

 survey released last week approved of his handling of foreign policy , against 

53 percent who disapproved . The negative showing on foreign policy apparently c

ontributed to lowering the president 's overall approval rating to 51 percent , 

from 57 percent in March . ( Optional add end ) `` Foreign policy is not just ab

out foreign affairs , it 's also an opportunity for the president to display lea

dership capabilities in the one arena in which he can do so with fewest challeng

es , '' said Everett Carll Ladd , director of the Roper Center for Public Opinio

n Research . `` We have loads of evidence that people form impressions of presid

ents by what they see of them on the world stage . '' Underscoring Clinton 's di

fficulties abroad , and conceivably complicating them , are increasing signs of 

congressional restlessness with his leadership on foreign affairs . The most str

iking example is a Senate vote two weeks ago for an amendment ordering the presi

dent to unilaterally lift the U.N.-imposed embargo on selling arms to Bosnia , e

ven if the United States ' NATO allies do not agree . Sen. Mitch McConnell of Ke

ntucky , the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that overs

ees spending on foreign aid , predicted more congressional involvement in foreig

n affairs on such issues as curbing development of North Korea 's nuclear capabi

lity and granting `` most favored nation '' trade status to China . `` All of a 

sudden , '' McConnell said , `` an issue the president has no interest in , and 

he thinks the American people aren't interested in , is becoming a major politic

al liability . ''

 The following editorial appeared in Thursday 's Washington Post : Congress goes

 home still trying to figure out how , if at all , to restructure the health-car

e system . With regard to at least one aspect of the problem cost containment ou

r own sense is that it has no choice . It has to act somehow ; the government ca

n't afford the system as it stands . No payer can . Some members of Congress hav

e said in the past that the way to counter health-care costs the federal share ,

 at any rate would be to impose an entitlement cap . The cap would force the nec

essary cuts , if not in health care , then in other entitlement programs to make

 room for health care . We 've been among those opposed to a cap on grounds that

 it would be a cop-out another broad promise to achieve great savings by cutting

 specific programs in the future instead of cutting them up front . But if Congr

ess fails to provide for such cuts up front when given the chance if it fails to

 enact a credible health-care-cost-containment mechanism well , what 's left but

 an entitlement cap ? The cap becomes harder to resist . There 's already a cap 

on the third of the budget subject to the appropriations process . It 's a crude

 device , but it 's working pretty well , forcing the administration and Congres

s to make choices they 'd otherwise finesse . Cappers say there needs to be a si

milar ceiling on the entitlements side of the budget , or else the deficit , so 

painfully reduced last year , will soon start to rise again . You can make a lot

 of arguments against such a cap . Entitlements are a false category , an arbitr

ary lumping together of unlike programs ( though the same can of course be said 

of appropriations ) . The word is a euphemism mainly for aid to the elderly in t

he form of Social Security and the payment of health-care costs through Medicare

 and Medicaid . The health-care costs are the ones that are driving the budget .

 They are the ones that should be contained , and other programs , including the

 rest of the federal-support system for the poor , should not be put at risk bec

ause of them . Most cap proposals also leave out tax entitlements the mortgage-i

nterest deduction , for example . Those should be put at risk as well . A cap is

 also likely to produce not so much genuine savings as shifts . Particularly in 

health care , costs now borne by the federal government will simply be shifted t

o the states or private payers . That reduces the deficit more than it helps the

 society ; there 's a better way . But if Congress willn't do the right thing , 

which is to face up to health-care costs directly , then maybe it ought to put a

 gun to its own head in the form of an entitlement cap . The health-care problem

 is also a budget problem . Unless you solve the problem of health-care costs , 

you can't provide even the health care the country needs . The members need to t

hink about that amid the swirl of pressures back home .

 NEW YORK `` Weekend in the Country '' might be enough for Stephen Sondheim 's m

ismatched lovers in `` A Little Night Music , '' but Ivan Turgenev sent his off 

on `` A Month in the Country . '' Before too many months pass , New Yorkers can 

expect to get a new look at the Russian classic in a production that is London '

s latest hit . Starring Helen Mirren and John Hurt , it ends a brief sold-out ru

n this weekend , but producer Duncan C. Weldon plans to bring it to Broadway nex

t February or March . Mirren , Hurt and John Standing would repeat their roles ,

 along with director Bill Bryden and designer Hayden Griffin . London critics ga

ve Mirren 's Turgenev portrayal high praise . `` She has taken one of the great 

, yet most elusive of roles and made it entirely her own , '' the Daily Mail sai

d . Mirren 's schedule a film this summer and more of TV 's `` Prime Suspect '' 

in the fall dictate the delay till next year . Weldon said there may be a pre-Br

oadway run in Stamford , Conn. , where his possible partner , Alexander H. Cohen

 , has a theater , and a post-Broadway date in Los Angeles . SERIOUS SIMON : Acc

epting a lifetime achievement award at New Dramatists ' annual luncheon last wee

k , Neil Simon was alternately playful and philosophical . As he looked back ove

r a career that produced 28 plays , he said , `` I do realize it 's not going to

 go on forever . ( pause ) This speech may . '' No , he had said at the outset ,

 he would be brief unless he got a lot of laughs . He got quite a few from the a

udience of about 500 , but throughout his talk there was a recurring seriousness

 , vague hints of a career winding down . He referred indirectly to the fact tha

t his latest Broadway play , `` Laughter on the 23rd Floor , '' failed to attrac

t a single Tony nomination : `` As far as I 'm concerned , all of them ( in the 

cast ) have gotten Tony nominations from me . Unfortunately , you don't get to g

o to the party . '' And he worried that playwrights are now an endangered specie

s . `` I came to the theater at the right time . I had a place to learn and a pl

ace to fail . There 's no place to fail now and you need that . ( pause ) I 'd b

etter stop and tell a joke . '' And he did , but it can't be repeated here that 

word , you know . Introducing Simon , his longtime producer , Emanuel Azenberg ,

 recalled that during rehearsals for `` Broadway Bound , '' a scene wasn't worki

ng . Simon noticed his concern and sent him a note , now framed on his office wa

ll : `` Don't worry . I know how to fix it . '' Later , they were workshopping a

 Simon musical using Gershwin songs . It was terrible , Azenberg said . So bad t