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probably East Germany and
Czechoslovakia.
Unusual Plea for United Europe
The Kremlin leaders have been
clearly stung by what they call tbe
White House's "anti communist
crusade," given added ímpetus by
the airliner tragedy. They particu–
larly resent that President Reagan
referred to the Soviet Union as an
"evil empire."
Moscow's assessment of U.S.
intentions was further enhanced
when Vice-president George Bush
toured Eastern Europe shortl y after
the airliner disaster.
In unusually blunt Ianguage, Mr.
Bush said in Vienna after his visits
to Hungary, Yugoslavia and Ro–
manía that "the brutal murder of
269 civilians" only underlined for
him Russia's distance from Euro–
pean civilization.
The vicc-president went on to
condemn the post World War
lJ
division of Europe, saying that
there was no agreement at the ill–
fated 1945 YaJta conference to
divide Europe into "spheres of
influence."
In his aggressive speech-one of
the harshcst yet delivered by a top
American official since the Cold
War days of the l950s- Mr. Bush
referred to "the wound which ru11s
through the heart of Europe."
Addressing an audience in the
former Imperial Hofburg Palace in
Vienna, the U.S. vice-president
called, according to the words of
Daily Telegraph
correspondent
Richard Bassett, "for a
united Cen–
tral Europe
free from the alíen
influence of the Soviet Union."
Eastern European states, Mr. Bush
continued, should choose to free
themselves from Soviet domination
and join the Free World. Either that,
he said, or forever be condemned to
what he called a Iife of ignorance,
backwardness and poverty.
Down through the years Ameri–
can officials have supported- usual–
ly in the form of lip service-the
concept of a united
Western
Europe.
Rarely has anyone publicly advo–
cated a united Europe that would
encompass countr ies from Central
and Eastern Europeas well.
Another Unity Plea in Vienna
Vice-president Bush was not the
January
1984
only Ieading personality to speak
out on the issue of European unity
from Vienna in September. Preced–
ing him by about two weeks was
Pope John Paul II. Since the after–
math of the airliner tragedy still
dominated newspaper headlines,
statements by the Pope in what was
the capital of the once-powerful
Austro- Hungarian Empire drew
scant attention.
It
was the first Papal pilgrim–
age to Vienna in two cen turies.
While there, as he has done so
often in his five-year-long pontifi–
cate, the Polish-born Pontiff once
again urged Europeans on both
sides of the Iron Curtain to unite
on the basis of their common
C hristian heritage.
In a prayer service coinciding
with the 300th anniversary of the
bloody liberation of Vienna from
the massive Turkish siege of 1683,
the Pope said that "this solemn
feast ... draws our vision beyond
natural, national and artificial bor–
ders over all Europe, over all the
peoples of the continent with its
common past, from the Atlantic
to the Urals, from the North Sea
to the Mediterra nean. "
To the Pope, the people
of Europe, despite their
linguistic and ethnic dif–
ferences, nevert heless
represent one common
Christian
civilization. He
decries Europe's present–
day "artificial" division
(via the Iron Curtain)
into two ideological
camps, one dominated by
the United States, the
other by the Soviet
Union.
the European continent that con–
tinues despite aJI the crises and
division is not comprehensible
without the content of the Chris–
tian message," he said, describing
a "common heritage" for all the
Continent.
Significantly, on the eve of the
visit, Austrian Primate Cardinal
Franz Koenig said the Pope consid–
ers neutral Austria as a bridge
between East and West. Austria
and its capital Vienna appear head–
ed for a vital role in Europe's
future.
" One-lung" Christian?
Behind the scenes, John Paul
II
has
been working tirelessly to achieve
the type of East-West unity in
Europe Vice-president Bush al–
luded to.
His master plan , if one may call
it that, is far more extensive than
any secular politician has dcvised
to date, because it deals with the
hcaling of fundamental cultural
and religious schisms that no
política! leader knows how to deal
with.
For example, at
a
symposium in
John Paul 's address, as
well as speeches by cardi–
nals from Germany,
France, Poland and
Yugoslavia, was carried
live by Austrian television
in a broadcast that people
in border areas of Czech–
oslovakia, Hungary and
Yugoslavia could watch.
At the service, the
Pontiff dedicated a near–
Yuri
Andropov lets it be known that a new Europe
between East and West
is
foreseeable.
Iy 30-foot-high bronze cross. "Un–
der this sign of the cross we place
Austria and Europe because only
under the cross is there hope," the
Pope said. " The cultural unity of
Rome, the Pope spoke of the
urgent necessity of a "rapproche–
ment between the spiri tual heritage
of the Christian Eastern and West–
ern culture"-meaning the Ortho-
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