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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 22, 1985
PAGE 5
long match, and with the score tied at deuce." Europeans, more than
ever before, are caught in the middle--and not just in the NATO coun
tries.
At least two Warsaw Pact nations, East Germany and Hungary,
have been pressuring Moscow to show flexibility in Geneva. A failed
summit would harm their vital economic ties to the West.
While the new Soviet leader has made a generally favorable impression
in Western Europe, there are no illusions that Soviet policy will
change much in the short run. The numbers of Soviet missiles targeted
on Europe continue to escalate.
The Belgian and Dutch governments,
despite heavy leftist pressure, have been nonetheless able to move
ahead with the deployment of American counter-weapons.
To a growing degree it is now Washington's policy that most unsettles
moderate, generally pro-American Europeans. The issue revolves around
President Reagan's insistence on moving ahead on research and eventual
deployment of a space-based defense system, the Strategic Defense
Initiative, called "Star Wars" by its detractors.
(The Soviets hate
SDI, and not only because it could neutralize their offensive strategy.
Moscow is even more worried that the billions of dollars of research
involved to produce SDI may lead to a whole new generation of defense
and weapon technology, leaving their sluggish war industry behind in a
cloud of computer dust. And there is no way Mr. Gorbachev can afford
to match the American effort and upgrade the Soviet economy at the same
time.
Hence the standard Moscow charge that Mr. Reagan is "milita
rizing space.")
The Europeans are wary of SDI from a different point of view. They say
that they made the very difficult political decision of accepting the
Pershing and cruise missiles to show Washington their faithfulness to
the NATO alliance. Now some Europeans feel that a "Star Wars" space
weapons shield would give Americans the option of retreating into
"Fortress America," decoupling the alliance.
Britain's Lord
Carrington,
secretary general
of
the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, told an audience recently:
"I would have to be deaf,
blind and impenetrably stupid not to be aware of European concerns
about the American Strategic Defense Initiative.... It is important
that Allies on both sides of the Atlantic should be aware of the
divisive potential of the SDI and take steps necessary to avoid the
danger.•
Journalist Georgie Anne Geyer told the television audience of
WASHIR;TON WEEK IN REVIEW (Nov. 15) that the SDI is helping foster a
deeper, more widespread feeling of neutrality throughout Western
Europe. Ms. Geyer also noted that Western Europe as a whole shows no
sign of coming out of its prolonged economic stagnation. The Soviets
hope to capitalize on both the mental rift in the Atlantic Alliance and
Europe's economic doldrums by dangling more trade prospects. Deals for
Soviet acquisition of more than $4 billion in new chemical plants and
$1 billion each for steel and automotive projects are in the works. In
the July 25, 1985, LOS ANGELES TIMES, columnist F. Stephen Larrabee
explained the overall Soviet divide-and-conquer tactic:
While relations with the United States are likely to remain
important, there are indications that Gorbachev may put
greater priority on other areas--especially Western Europe.