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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JULY 15, 1983
PAGE 7
ON THE WORLD SCENE
SPECIAL REPORT
OTTO VON HABSBURG: MAN WITH A MISSION One would be fairly safe in saying
that Otto von Habsburg has a clearer grasp of international affairs than
any other politician alive today. And, of course, Dr. Habsburg is no mean
politician. He is the head of the 600-year-old House of Habsburg, one of
the most prestigious royal families in European history.
Although no
longer a claimant to the Austrian throne, Dr. Habsburg is nevertheless
active daily in the political field. Since 1979 he has been a delegate to
the European Parliament, representing a large area of Bavaria in West Ger
many. He travels widely, speaks often and writes (he has 24 books to his
credit) as much as time permits.
Basic Theme: Europe Must Unite
The breadth and depth of Dr. Habsburg's insight into current events, backed
up by a solid historical foundation, was much in evidence in his recent ap
pearances in Southern California.
In an address given to the faculty,
students and employees of Ambassador College, in an interview with staff
members of The PLAIN TRUTH, in a speech before the prestigious Los Angeles
World Affairs Council and in conversations with this writer and others, the
energetic 70-year-old Dr. Habsburg hammered home one theme time and again:
The need for the nations of Europe to unite in order to be prepared for
unprecedented dangers in the near future.
The goal of a peaceful, powerful and united Europe colors nearly everything
he writes and says--almost preaches--in his dynamic, fast-tempo speeches
(at which he uses no notes). In fact, as one biographer wrote about this
amazing man: "He lives only for the cause that sustains him."
The most serious danger confronting the free nations of Europe, in Dr.
Habsburg's view, is that of a Soviet Union which is powerful militarily but
which faces grave and potentially-destabilizing crises in its economy and
internal ethnic makeup. The initiative-stifling bureaucratic structure of
the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites virtually guarantees
that the Communist world will fall further behind the Western world in the
advanced technological age.
The Soviet Union can't feed itself, despite the fact that 50% of its citi
zens still work on the farm. In Czarist days, Russia was the world's number
one food exporter. Now, it is the number one food importer. Poland, a
prosperous country in pre-Communist days, is today in economic shambles.
So are Romania and other satellites. Dr. Habsburg considers the basic law
of economics today to be: "Whenever socialism enters the economy, produc
tivity ceases and misery begins."
The economic plight of the East Bloc is so great, stresses Dr. Habsburg,
that Comecon (the Soviet-led Communist trading combine) now owes the demo
cratic industrialized countries 82 billion dollars--"a sum which can never
be repaid in human history."
The Soviets, he adds, also face an unprecedented internal threat from the
rapid population growth of non-Slavic races inside the U.S.S.R., especially
the Moslem Turkic people. Ethnic Russians already comprise less than half