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Behind
.theFacade
of
WesternUnity
by
Gene H. Hogberg
Economic recovery masks deep divisions that
must eventually rip asunder the Atlantic Alliance.
T
O BORROW
the title of
the book of World War
I vintage, "All's Quiet
on
the Western
Front."
But superficial impressions
can be misleading.
The moderate upswing in eco–
nomic fortunes throughout much of
the Western World virtually assured
that, from tbe start, this year's sev–
en-nation Summit of Industrialized
Nations in Williamsburg, Virginia,
would be a success.
With hopes renewed that the
gloomiest clouds of the recession
were at last lifting, the leaders of
the United States, West Germany,
Japan, Britain, Fraoce, Canada and
·ltaly pledged to keep up tbe fight
against inflation and to back off–
for now at least-from the brink of
an all-out trade war.
Mr. Reagan " the Winne r "
The general consensus among the
3,000 or so journalists gathered at
the WiJliamsburg summit site was
President Reagan, rigbt, welcomes
West German Chancellor Kobl to
industrial nations' summit conference.
that the "winner," if there was one,
was the host head of state, U.S.
President Ronald Reagan . The
Times
of London correspondent
said that the conference marked
the occasion "when President Rea–
gan emerged as an international
leader of stature, finally managing
to shed his cowboy image."
Widespread predictions that
there could be rancorous bickering
over continuing high interest rates
in the United States- a contribut–
ing factor tp the strength of the
dallar over the other cur–
rencies- simply failed to
materialize. Not that fric–
tions over this issue bave
faded. Immediately after
the summit, the belea–
guered French franc
plummeted against the
dallar once more. Antici–
pating this development,
U.S. Treasury Secretary
Donald Regan repeatedly
stressed at the summit his
belief that the real prob–
lem is not with a strong
dollar. He insisted it líes
in lack of confidence in
the French currency be–
cause of French President
Francois Mitterrand's