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EUROPE:
Winds of Change Before
the Storm
by
Gene H. Hogberg
Events are underway in Western Europe that will ultimately lead to
a dramatic about-face in world affairs.
T
HE PROTECTORS
have
become t he pr...ey.
American military
personnel a re now prime
targets for ter ro r ists
1n
Western Europe.
T
n September a n ambush set
by member s of the Red Army
Faction in West Germany near–
ly took the life of General Fred–
erick Kroesen Jr., commander
of
U
.S. gro u nd forces
in
Europe.
The attack on the general's car
was the 1Oth assault this year on
American mi li tary installations in
Germany.
lt
represented a defi–
nite escalation in terrorist tactics.
lnstead of employing a secret trip
wire to set off a hidden explosive,
the terrorists boldly blasted the
general's armored sedan by means
of a Soviet-bloc grenade launch–
er.
Anti-Americani sm Spreads
The ambush near Heidelberg
occurred just days after 30,000
demonstrators-communists, 'ho–
mosexuals and leather-jacketed an–
archists-"welcomed" U.S. Secre–
tary of S tate Alexander M. Haig,
Jr. to West Berlín. "Hang the vul–
ture, hang him higher," demanded
one placard. Others displayed an
American flag shaped like a pig.
2
One thousand anarchists broke
ranks to insanely chop up store
fronts and automobi les with axes.
Both the attack on General
Kroesen and the wild demonstra–
tion in West Berlin were soundly
condemned by West German poli–
ticians as well as journalists. Still,
there is no doubt that the phenom–
enon of neutral ism and pacifism
steadily spreading over West Ger–
many, as well as the Low Coun–
tries, has emboldened the extreme
radical fringe.
The Left Fear s America ...
In Western Europe, the United
States is being squeezed into an
almost untenable position. Grow–
ing pressure from the political
left-evidenced by recent mass
demonstrations in severa! Euro–
pean cities-just might not permit
the p lanned modernization of
NATO's European-based nuclear
weapons, now sched uled fo r
1983.
This plan calls for the stationing
of 572 Iong-range Pershing II mis–
siles and land-based cruise missiles
in Europe. For the first time the
Soviet heartland would be vulner–
able from West European soil, thus
offsetting Soviet SS-20 ll}issiles
targeted on European cities.
Soviet propaganda against the
missiles as well as the announced
U.S. intention to go ahead with the
neutron bomb has been intense.
Various "peace groups" in Europe
are calling for scrapp ing the
NATO plan.
Beyond politics, however, there
is the genuine fea r expressed
among many West Germans that
the newer NATO weapons would
only ensure that their country
would become the prime target of
nuclear attack from both direc–
tions.
Schlachtfeld Deutschland
they call it- Germany as battle–
field.
According to this view the
attempt to
restore
the balance is
the problem: lt might "provoke"
the Kremlin to further aggressive
action- eventually perhaps even a
preemptive first strike.
Writes J osef Joffe in the Spring
J
98
J
issue of
Foreign Affairs,
" ... there is a generation moving
into positions of power [in West
Germany] which, having experi–
enced nothing but peace in Europe,
can only respond with impatient
disbelief to their elders' claims that
a st rong defense is indispensable to
a stable detente." (Mr. Joffe is a
senior editor of the West Germany
weekly
Die Zeit.)
The Right Fears " Finla':ldizatíon"
At the same time, concern over the
drift of events is rising among
influential powers-that-be in pol i–
tics, banking and industry in West-
The
PLAIN TRUTH