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N
ot since the 1930s has the West–
ern world faced so formidable
a tbreat to its survival!
Asked to summarize tbe present
global situation, U.S. Secretary of
State Henry Kissinger recentLy said:
"We have enormous potential for
chaos with the growth of the emerg–
ing nations, who a re full of resent–
ments ... the proLiferation of
nuclear weapons, the expansion of
~
Soviet military strength - all of this
i
has great danger. "
~
Most of the advanced nations of
~
the free world - many of which are
~
c ritica ! of Ame rica as supreme
leader of the West - are suffering
from faltering and divided lead–
ership, lack of purpose, and lack of
will to act unitedly against onrushing
crises.
Few statesmen or political ana–
lysts have as succinctly summarized
the West's grave weakness,
if
not
potentially fatal disease , as has
James R. Schlesinger, former U.S.
Secretary of Defense. In a recent
article in
Fortune,
a Leading business
month ly, he said: "The gravest
problem for the Western world is
without question the
/oss of vision,
of moral stamina, of nationa/ pur–
pose. "
Warns Schlesinger further: "The
Wes t is clearly in disarray, and
within a few yea rs could actua lly be
at bay."
The Soviet Challenge
The West's most dangerous chal–
lenge, at present, comes from the
Soviet Union's burgeoning base of
power and inftuence. Despite a host
of interna] weaknesses, the Soviets,
with surprising skiLL and success,
have taken advantage of the West's
own weaknesses and jumped into
power vacuums in widespread areas
of the globe.
In recent months and yea rs, the
Soviets have had their share of for–
eign misadventures and setbacks.
Still, through unftagging probing,
they have garnered strategic success
aU a round Africa, the Mideast, and
Southeast Asia. The Western na–
tions, meanwhile, have steadily lost
inftuence.
Indeed, it seems that containment
of communism, once fie rceLy be–
Lieved in and fought for by Ameri–
cans in the post-World War II era
2
"THE GRAVEST PROBLEM for the
Western world
is
without question
the
/oss
of vision, of moral stamina,
of national purpose."
- Former U.S. Secretary of Detense
James
R.
Schlesinger
THI
WIST'S
GRAVIST
CRISIS
Survival of the free world is seri–
ous/y endangered by a plague of
divided and faltering leadership
in America and other Western
countries.
by
Donald D. Schroeder
up to Vietnam, is now a seriously ·
eroded American policy.
Stung by recent Soviet advances,
U.S. leaders "shoot" words of warn–
ing that no more communist non–
sense - such as the fiagrant Soviet–
Cu ban episode in Angola - will be
permilted. But their wa rnings seem
more and more hollow. They are
not backed up by a meaningful
American military commitment or
other deterring action or even neces-
sarily support from the American
publicas a whole.
Instead, the world watches con–
gressional a nd State Department
feuds and rivalry turn American
fo re ig n po licy into a vi rtu al
shambles.
lo the United Nations, the U.S.
finds itseLf aLmost alone on many
touchy issues. ln order not to an–
tagonize the Third World bloc, in
particular the oi l powers, America's
a llies avoid taking coordinated
trans-Atlantic stances and often ab–
stain from voting on hot issues.
Tbe Grim Reality
However tired her citizens may be
of externa! world difficulties - espe–
ciaUy
in
the light of the bitter Viet–
nam experience - America cannot
shrin.k from her historie preeminent
position in the worLd without setting
off startling changes in the globa l
political order.
The fact is America is still the
only counterweight to Soviet power.
Washington must now deal with
what could be very serious side ef–
fects of its decision not to counter
the shrewd Soviet intrusion
in
An–
gola's civi l war.
For the first time, the U.S. failed
to respond toa Soviet military move
outside the Soviet orbit.
lt
was a lso
the first time Congress had ha lted
action to counter a Soviet thrust
in
the middl e of a crisis. " [f the pattern
is not broken now," said a frustrated
Henry Kissinge r, " we will face
harder choices and higher costs in
the future."
But the American mood is cLearly
noninterventionist.
Following hard on the heels of
the Angolan debacle, both the
U nited States and Brita in a n–
nounced to white-controlled and
West-aligned Rhodesia n leaders
they had beuer s tart negotiating
"realisticaLLy" with black nation–
alists. The Rhodesian minority gov–
ernment was told that they could
expect no major intervention on
their behalf by the West if full-scale
fighting broke out.
It was a message for South Africa
too. Both na tions may well be aban–
doned toa dark and bloody fate.
NATOWoes
Throughout Western Europe, top
military commanders are disturbed
The
PLAIN TRUTH Aprii-May 1976