Remarkably enough, there is a solution for South Africa's problems. It is a solution that only the United States can broker: namely, to offer South Africa a place as the 51st state of the union. It is, on the face of it, a bizarre and possibly outlandish suggestion. But that, alas, may be all we have left. The situation in South Africa has come to such a pass that ordinary political solutions seem quite inadequate. South Africa's absorption by the United States may or may not make sense, but in a desperate situation like ours, we cannot afford to pass up any solution that seems, however remotely, to offer a way out.