Where the News Ends
CHAMBERLIN, WILLIAM HENRY
WHERE the NEWS ENDS Kremlin's Chief Post-Geneva Aim: Block West German Rearmament By William Henry Chamberlin Bonn The next few weeks will be critical for the future of Europe. After its...
...These same qualities, in an economically much more powerful and developed country, will put new backbone into the defense of Europe if and when Germany joins the European coalition against Soviet imperialism...
...The spirit of Bonn somehow recalled my visit to Ankara, the capital of Turkey, last summer...
...One of the shrewdest and most experienced American observers of Communist activity in Europe recently drew up the following list of Soviet diplomatic successes: ?Creation of an atmosphere of "peace" and "coexistence," leading to policies of appeasement and a reduced defense effort in the West...
...Fostering illusions about East-West trade as a substitute for strengthening and integrating the Atlantic economy...
...A sovereign nation cannot be indefinitely kept disarmed...
...Should that decision be favorable, a victory outweighing in long-range significance the defeat at Geneva will have been won...
...The struggle for acceptance of Germany as an equal ally of the West, politically, militarily and economically, is now coming to a head...
...After its overwhelming victory at Geneva, Soviet diplomacy is in a position to concentrate on its two principal objectives: blocking German rearmament and sowing discord among the Western Allies...
...The course of events since Stalin's death, and still more during the three months since the opening of the disastrous Geneva Conference, has been tragic for the free world...
...The stalling and obstruction that have delayed French ratification of the EDC treaty for more than two years seem to have almost run their course...
...That is why German integration with the West on equal terms, the primary objective of Chancellor Adenauer's foreign policy, should also be the Number 1 aim of American foreign policy...
...Perhaps a clue is afforded by the recent American and British decision to restore limited sovereignty to Germany in the near future, regardless of whether the French Parliament ratifies EDC...
...But the situation, though it has certainly deteriorated as a result of the Geneva Conference, is by no means hopeless...
...One possibility, of course, would be admission of Germany to NATO and the creation of a national German army...
...The original understanding was that the Occupation would formally end and limited sovereignty would be restored simultaneously with the coming into force of EDC...
...Establishing Communist China at Geneva as a first-class national power, with prestige not only in Asia but in the West...
...But American officials there, especially those who had previously served in France and Italy, were almost lyrical in their enthusiasm over Turkish unity, fighting spirit, eagerness to cooperate with American military and economic advisers, and willingness to do all that was suggested for the defense of their country...
...Should it be unfavorable, the ground will be cleared for Anglo-American action to bring about the rearming of Germany by other means...
...It is not surprising that the Soviet Government, after these successes, has promptly launched a drive for a new conference on Germany, with all the opportunities this would offer for indefinite postponement of European political and military union and fostering disunity in the free world...
...After the vagueness, the Micawber-like waiting for something to turn up in London and the prevalent neutralism and peace-at-any-price sentiment in Paris, it was a relief to hear a high Government official here say: "Communists are criminals...
...By the end of August, there will probably be a French decision, one way or the other, on EDC...
...There is something refreshing in the political atmosphere of this improvised capital of postwar Germany, formerly a picturesque old Rhenish university town, heavily bombed during the war, now rebuilding feverishly and putting up one huge Government office building or block of flats after another...
...You can't make a deal with criminals...
...Dividing and weakening the Atlantic alliance...
...Ankara is hardly as agreeable a place of residence as Paris or Rome...
...What will happen if the French reject EDC and also balk at admitting Germany to NATO...
...If we waver on this issue, our whole postwar policy of building an anti-Communist bastion in Europe will be shaken to its foundations...
Vol. 37 • August 1954 • No. 32
