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EUROPE BETWEEN
EAST
ANDWEST!
by
Gene H. Hogberg
Trends are under way that will dramatically alter the political landscape of Europe.
S
OMETIMES
one startling
and unexpected devel–
opment can help alter
the course of history.
Jus t such a "bolt out of the
blue" occurred September 1,
1983,
when a Korean civilian
sitive military zones in the Soviet
Union's Far East region near Japan
and Korea.
For weeks the world remained
stunned over the act that termi–
nated Korean Airlines Flight 007.
Assertions from Moscow that the
plane was on an American spying
mission over Soviet
"sacred territory" and
that its fighter pilots
would do the same thing
again under similar cir–
cumstances further added
to rising East-West ten–
sions.
lmpact on Europe
The Korean jet downing
has generated consid–
erable política! fallout. It
has hardened relations
between Washington and
Moscow. And it has vir–
tually assured that the
controversia! NATO plan
to install new weapons in
Westero Europe will go
ahead as scheduled.
~
For a while, it appeared
i
that the considerable pub–
~
lic opposition to the
deployment of the Per–
shing 11 and cruise mis-
Firm U.S. policy in defense of Western Europe
forces Soviets to rethink policy.
siles-NATO's new gen–
eration weapons designed to offset
the Soviet Union's SS-20 interme–
diate missiles- might succeed in
sorne key European countries, spe–
cifically West Germany. But the
airliner , with 269 passengers
aboard, was shot down by a Soviet
fighter plane.
The American-made 747 jumbo
jet had strayed off course over sen-
2
impact of the antinuclear peace
movement has been markedly
reduced because of the airliner
tragedy.
Verbal Cold War
Tbe question of deploying interme–
diate range nuclear forces (INF) in
Europe has generated sorne of the
harshest exchanges between Wash–
ington and Moscow in recent
years.
In September Soviet President
Yuri Andropov replied blisteringly
to a speech in the United Nations
by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
In bis address , Mr. Reagan
offered the Soviets new concessions
on the "Euromissile" issue. Yet it
didn' t impress Mr. Andropov, who
said the United States was just
"prattling" about ftexibility in the
Geneva INF talks on the "burning
issue" of reducing nuclear arsenals
in Europe. The Reagan concessions
were, he said, more of the same
"deceptive" smoke screen to cover
actual deployment (the Soviets
especially dread the Pershing IJs,
which could strike Soviet territory
in less than 10 minutes from launch
time).
Earlier, Moscow authorities im–
plied their representatives may
both walk out of the Geneva talks
and take countermeasures by mov–
ing its nuclear forces "closer" to
the United States and by putting
SS-20 medium-range missiles on
the territory of Warsaw Pact allies,
The
PLAIN TRUTH