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20 tactical missi les, backed up by
sq uadrons of advanced "Back–
fire" bombers- al l targeted on
Western Europe.
The allies , however , are
dragging their feet, partly be–
cause of a different perception of
th e Soviet threat a nd partly
because of the difficulty of kecp–
ing up with soaring military costs
in a time of economic recession,
inAation, unemployment and ris–
ing imported-oi l bilis.
European lead e rs complain
that the Americans just don't
appreciate them or their problems
or their already sol id
commitment
t o
NATO as it is .
American officials,
they say, are com–
ing on too st rong,
too "hawkish." Eu–
ropeans werc par–
ticularly upset by
UNITED STATES
4
CANADA
the charge of President Reagan's
National Security Adviser, Rich–
ard Allen , that "outright pacifist
sentiments" werc on the rise in
Western Europe, causing thc
"contemptiblc ' better Red tha n
dead' slogan of a generation ago"
to once again be heard.
U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar
Weinberger's a ppeara nce a t
N ATO 's Nu c lear Pl an ni ng
Group in Bonn, West Germany,
in early April accentuated the rift
on defense issues.
Mr. We inbcrger added fue ) to
the building fire by dismissing 17
years of dete nte-which many
Europeans tho roughly be lieve
in- as a me re Kremlin fraud
intended only to mask the
ongoing Soviet arms
buildup. H e side–
s tepped Euro–
pean demands
for a n early
discu ssio n
with t he So-
viet Uni o n over
limiting use in both Eastern
and Western Europe of so–
called Euro-missiles.
Many European leaders warn
Washington that they cannot con–
vince their voting public to accept
the new generation cruise missiles
and long: range Pershing
JI
nuclear
missiles the United States wants to
place in Wes tern Europestarting in
1983, unless the United States
agrees to the corresponding arms
negotiation with the U.S.S.R.
How Serious the Atlantic Rift?
lt 's now obvious that the Atlantic
rift is pas t the superficial stage
and is into substance. The West
German newspaper
Bonner
Rundschau ,
for example, re–
ported that the confiict that arose
in Bonn forebode "perhaps the
beginning of a
fatal sp/it."
The
influential national newspaper
Die Welt.
contended that "the
Atlantic All iance is in danger of
falling out ovcr
basic questions
of
material interest."
That the issues involvcd are
deep was confirmed by Wes t
Germa n Chancellor H e lmut
Schmidt when he referred to "the
dispute over fundamental issues
of defense policies."
Josef J offc, a senior editor of
the West German weekly
Die
Zeit.
s tresses that "an irreduc ibl e
difference of interests líes at the
root of all ... disputes" betwcen
Americans and Europeans.
The main difference líes in the
perception of the value of detente
with the Soviet Union. Detente,
or "relaxation of tens ions" be–
tween Eas t and Wes t began a
decade ago. By pursuing this poli–
cy both the Europeans and Amcr–
icans hoped to tame the Soviet
Union's expansionary desircs by
casting a net of interdepcndence
around her . The theory was to
enmesh the Kremlin in a g rowing
web of trade, credit lines, tech–
nology transfers and arms control
negotiations.
The theory didn't work. Soviet
milita ry power expanded un–
a bated. The Kremlin did not give
up support ing the "class st rug–
gles" around the world , even in
arcas of vital interest to the Wcst ,
such as the Middle E ast and Afri–
ca.
After the Soviets moved into
Afghanis tan in 1979, the United
States-whi 9h had not gotte n
enmeshed too far to begin with–
cut back its economic links and
urged the Europeans to do like–
wise.
The Europeans have balked
ever si nce, because, it now turns
out , they were the ones enmeshed
in the detente web more than
anyone else, including the So–
viets.
West Germany is particularly
exposed. Detente enabled Bonn
to pursue its
Ostpolitik,
or rela-
The
PLAIN TRUTH