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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 16, 1984
PAGE 9
them would smile and wave to us when they saw us. They seemed es
pecially interested in the children in our group.
I enjoyed seeing and climbing the Great Wall. I had to learn to
eat with chopsticks. I learned I didn't like Chinese food very
much, but we could get Coca Cola and candy bars. I met children
from California, Texas, Illinois and Florida.
ON THE WORLD SCENE
M.S.--age 8 (Pasadena, CA)
--Richard Rice, Mail Processing Center
ANOTHER VON HABSBURG SPEAKS OUT; WHICH WAY THE WEU?;
OLYMPICS DIVIDE SOVIETS AND EAST EUROPEANS
With Mr. Reagan robustly returned to a second four-year term, the prospects
of improved Soviet-American relations appear remote. Moscow is presently
in no mood to concretely negotiate arms reduction talks. Furthermore, the
Kremlin is moving to militarily prop up its Central American surrogate,
Nicaragua, which has had difficulty fending off the attacks of the U.S.
supported "contra" forces.
The Managua regime has "cried wolf" once again by putting the entire nation
on military alert against an alleged U.S. attack. While such an assault is
extremely remote, it nevertheless shows that the United States and the
Soviet Union are both "upping the ante." Neither superpower believes it
can afford to back down.
The prospect of reduced East-West tensions, therefore, are fading fast.
This puts the nations of Western Europe in an increasingly uncomfortable
position. It also encourages them in their desire for greater cooperation
both within Western Europe and between the Western and Eastern halves of
the continent. Recently, for example, the heads-of-state of France and
West Germany held top-level talks in Paris, as reported in the November 7
issue of the TIMES of London:
France and West Germany should serve as the driving forces behind
the construction of a stronger Europe, with� view to opening�
the east-west dialogue, President Mitterrand and President
Richard
von
Weizsaecker agreed here at the beginning of
a
five
day official visit to France by the West German President.
Speaking at a banquet given in Herr von Weizsaecker's honour•••M.
Mitterrand said: "Free and strong, our [European] Community will
be able to conduct a dialogue with the other part of Europe••••"
Noting the special national and family ties between the West
Germans and the Germans in East Germany, Herr von Weizsaecker
said in reply: "They are and remain like us, Europeans. That is
why we are seeking an entente between East and West. That is why
we desire a peace which would enable us to overcome the divisions
within Europe."
The goal of a united Europe remains fixed in the focus of the von Habsburg
family, not only Dr. Otto von Habsburg, but his 23-year-old son, the Arch
duke Karl von Habsburg. Like his father, Karl von Habsburg is active in the
promotion of a united Europe, serving as a member of the board of the Inter-