Basic HTML Version
Page 14
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, April 17, 1981
ON THE WORLD SCENE
THE ATLANTIC RIFT GROWS--WASHINGTON AND ALLIES DIFFER ON SOVIET THREAT
The American people are on cloud nine after the successful performance of
the space shuttle Columbia. National pride in America by Americans is
surging once again.
In its foreign policy too, the United States--specifically the new Reagan
team in office--is attempting to recover its lost prestige around the
world, to finally "stand up to the Russians." But on this count Washing
ton's determination is running into resistance, especially in Western
Europe.
U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger's first appearance at NATO's
Nuclear Planning Group last week accentuated the rift on defense matters
that's steadily widening beween America and its European allies. This
is something that the Soviets have long wanted, of course.
The United States, propelled by the urgings of President Reagan, is
planning to spend heavily on defense to offset the startling Soviet/War
saw Pact growth in weapons. It wants the West Europeans to get more
excited about the issue as well. But the allies are.dragging their feet,
partly because of a different perception of the Soviet threat, partly
because of the difficulty of keeping up with soaring military costs in
a time of economic recession, inflation, unemployment and rising imported
oil bills.
European leaders complain that the Americans just don't appreciate them,
their problems, their already solid commitment to NATO as it is. Mr.
Reagan, Mr. Weinberger, Secretary of State Alexander Haig and others
are coming on too strong, too "hawkish,�' they complain. Particularly
galling was the charge by President Reagan's National Security Advisor,
Richard Allen, that "outright pacifist sentiments" were on the rise in
Western Europe, causing the "contemptible 'better Red than dead' slogan
of a generation ago" to once again be heard.
At the NATO talks in Bonn, Mr. Weinberger added more fuel to the fire
by dismissing 17 years of detente--which many Europeans thoroughly believe
in--as a mere Kremlin fraud to mask an ongoing Soviet arms buildup. He
sidestepped European demands for an early resumption of strategic arms
control talks with the USSR. Many European leaders warn Washington that
they cannot supply their home soils for the new cruise missiles and
longer-range nuclear missiles the U.S. wants to place there, unless the
U.S. agrees to the resumption of arms talks.
How serious is the Atlantic rift? It's obvious that it is past the
superficial stage and now into substance. The West German newspaper,
Bonner Rundschau, for example, reported that the conflict which arose
in Bonn forebode "perhaps the beginning of a fatal split." The influen
tial national newspaper, Die Welt, contended that "the Atlantic Alliance
is in danger of falling out over basic questions of material interest."
That the issues involved are deep was confirmed by West German Chancellor
Helmut Schmidt when he referred to "the dispute over fundamental issues
of defense policies." The Chancellor was especially critical of Wein
berger's dismissal of the supposed benefits of detente, in which the
Germans have a very sizeable stake (i.e. keeping open tenuous ties to East
Germany)