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policy, believe French experts,
would only grant the United States
undue advantage in important
world trade and monetary talks.
A writer in France's most influen–
tial evening paper,
Le Monde,
put it
most bluntly: "For Western Europe,
accepting such an alignment would
amount to ratifying her commercial
weakness, her economic depen–
dence, her military insigniticance
and her political effacement. This
would be to renounce herself for a
long time, perhaps forever."
ericans as a whole would
probably_be quite shocked
at the extremely blunt lan–
guage directed toward American
policies - especially monetary ones
- in the French press. Phrases such
as America's "a_ttacks" and "trade
offensives" are liberally employed.
Perhaps the epítome of biting
French fiscal logic to date appeared
in the financia! supplement of
Le
Monde
in the Spring of 1973. The
headline read "Monnaie de Singe."
Translated into English, it means
"monkey money." The author of the
article, Roger Bernos, declares:
"Europeans (and Japanese] have
finally discovered with stupefaction
that for the last 15 years they've
been paid in monkey money."
Mr. Bernos explains that "to pay
in monkey money means to recom–
pense or pay in pretty words and
empty promises, as did the exhib–
itors of performing monkeys when
they paid the toll over bridge or
road by having their animals per–
form tricks."
The $22 billion accumulated as
reserves by the Germans, the $17
billion held by Japan, and France's
$5 billion, all of which accumulated
over the last 15 years, Mr. Bernos
writes, "had in fact no interest, no
value, and were even undesirable.
lt's a rough shock."
"Everyone knows," he continues,
"that with good reserves in one's
granary, one can await the winter
and bad times with a confident
heart. Alas! Disenchantment has
6
come. For it is essential that one
should have stored good grain and
not light straw."
U
ndoubtedly, the French are
the most outspoken Euro–
pean critics of American
foreign policy. But as a leading
French economist himself points
out, "Often the French say out loud
what many other Europeans are si–
lently thinking but cannot say."
Such "silent thinking" is obvi–
ously occurring in West Germany.
In March of this year, roughly one
month after the second official dol–
lar devaluation, an opinion poll re–
ported that only 47 percent of the
Gerrnans considered the United
States the most important country
for Bonn to have good relations
with. This was down sharply from
the 79 percent of a year ago.
Not helping matters are recent
scattered remarks of mayors and of
the local officials, especially in
southem Germany, who have been
openly critical of the "permanent"
stationing of nearby U. S. army gar–
risons. The West German federal
government views such protests as
only adding fuel to the tire of the
argument ofAmerican senators who
have been pushing for a drastic cut
in American troop levels overseas.
The West German press has been
quick to evaluate the new state of
Bono-Washington atfairs. ' 'The
German-American relationship has
changed, but not· for the better," re–
ports
Vorwaerts,
the official organ of
Brandt's Social Democratic party.
The
Neue Rhein Zeitung
adds that
in West Germany, "it has almost
become fashionable to chirne in
with anti-American propaganda."
One of West Germany's leading
news analysts tried to put his finger
on the nebulous anti-U. S. mood in
his country, but found
it
difficult.
"A spook goes around in Europe:
Anti-Americanism," Sebastian
Hotfner wrote in his column in
Stern,
May 3, 1973. He added:
"Spooks are intangible. It is difficult
to deal rationally with the European
anti-Americanism, since it manifests
itself only rarely clearly.
lt
is in the
air like an odour, and not a good
one; an exudation out of the sub:
conscious. In the same way there
was an anti-semitism in the air
in
Germany in the twenties, and in the
fifties it was anti-communism."
The liberal
Frankfurter Rund–
schau
put the development in
proper perspective.
lt
conceded that
U. S. popularity - like the dollar -
has been devalued in Germany.
But, the paper said, "Europe still
needs America" because "the
U.S.A. still plays the main role in
world politics."
T
he increasingly open, critical
feelings expressed by Al–
liance members have sorne
officials on both sides of the ocean
deeply concerned. Former U. S. am–
bassador to the European Commu–
nity , J. Robert Schaetze l (see
accompanying interview), has been
continually warning of the growth
of an "adversary relationship" be–
tween Europe and the United
States. What worries hirn is that "no
one really seems to care" what is
happening and that precious little is
being done at the present time to
halt the downward trend.
West German Finance Minister
Helmut Schmidt, after a visit to
Washington earlier this year, told an
interviewer that there was a "major
danger" that trade disputes could
end up wrecking the Atlantic
Alliance.
Even to suggest a breakup of the
alliance which cements the free
world was unthinkable before the
1970's. But no longer is this so. The
year 1973 could mark the beginning
- if both powers are not extremely
careful - of a complete breakdown
in trans-Atlantic relations. Nothing
could be worse for a United States
already plagued by Watergate, a
sick currency, and now facing fuel
and possibly food shortages on top
of everything else. A Europe united
against, not with, the United States
could very likely be worse than any
of the above maladies.
O
PlAJN TRUTH Odober 1973