NATO's Future
CHAMBERLIN, WILLIAM HENRY
PERSPECTIVES NATO's FUTURE By William Henry Chamberlin As NATO observes the 15th anniversary of its establishment this month, the question arises as to what kind of future it...
...In the atmosphere of 1949, in the shadow of the subversion of Czechoslovakia and the Berlin blockade, the preservation of peace without appeasement in Europe for 15 years was an uncertain prospect...
...Not a square inch of European territory has been lost to Communism since NATO was formed...
...We should never forget that when de Gaulle says France, he means de Gaulle...
...De Gaulle's' attitude, as much as his actions, makes normal contingency planning in NATO extremely difficult...
...It remains to be seen whether the UN's Finnish mediator can work out a mutually acceptable solution...
...When NATO was formed Europe was a political vacuum and an economic shambles...
...But this prospect is now a reality...
...PERSPECTIVES NATO's FUTURE By William Henry Chamberlin As NATO observes the 15th anniversary of its establishment this month, the question arises as to what kind of future it should anticipate, or even whether it has a future at all...
...Yet the picture is by no means all dark...
...Similarly, General de Gaulle would be much less intransigent if he regarded a Soviet military offensive against Western Europe as likely...
...The fierce antagonism between the Greek majority and the Turkish minority of the island of Cyprus, for example, is a point of conflict between two NATO member-states...
...The General and other members of the French government are scarcely on speaking terms with the Dutch statesman, Dirk Stikker, who has announced his intention to retire from his post in Paris as SecretaryGeneral of NATO...
...Certainly, it has a full share of troubles...
...NATO'S current difficulties stem from a familiar cause...
...It would be a miscalculation of the gravest kind to regard NATO as outlived, even though its efficacy is not as great as formerly...
...The old continent has come a long way since 1949, and the European working class has a great deal more to lose than its chains...
...De Gaulle's harshly nationalistic foreign policy will probably remain a serious handicap for NATO even if the Cyprus affair is resolved...
...France also has withdrawn its naval forces in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic from NATO controls...
...If the Kremlin is tempted to begin nibbling at West Berlin, or at Norway or Turkey, the possibility that the tremendous U.S...
...nuclear arsenal will be thrown into the scale is an effective deterrent...
...an outright clash between Turkey and Greece, with disastrous consequences for NATO and for the whole European balance of power, has on several occasions seemed dangerously imminent...
...An issue like Cyprus would scarcely have arisen if Greece and Turkey felt that the Soviet Union or its satellites might pounce on them...
...It is a mistake to identify his cantankerous attitude with that of Germany or the smaller European powers...
...presence in Europe is an indispensable condition of maintaining peace with freedom and honor...
...To abandon this successful experiment in peace-keeping, to secede from NATO, to withdraw the troops which are the best visible pledge of our intention to honor our commitment should aggression take place, would be an act of unpardonable folly...
...Such essentials of European peace as the reunification of Germany and the extension to the whole Soviet bloc of as much internal independence as Yugoslavia now possesses would be immediate rather than long-range possibilities...
...and it will not permit the stationing on its soil of American nuclear weapons...
...Whatever de Gaulle may do, an effective U.S...
...A major contingent of the American armed forces is in the NATO front line in Germany...
...its contribution to NATO defenses in Germany is two undersized divisions...
...Had a united Western position been sustained in the face of China's disaffection and the demand for increased autonomy in the satellite states, Khrushchev would probably be in full retreat...
...Recently a high NATO official visiting this country remarked that, of 27 urgent problems in this field now awaiting solution, 22 relate to France...
...Current difficulties should not obscure the immense historical importance of the NATO pact, which committed the United States to the defense of Europe against aggression...
...Alliances, drawn tighter by war or the threat of war, tend to relax when external pressure abates...
...And when he says Europe, he means France...
...This commitment has, moreover, been backed up by deeds...
...Thus NATO has obviously fallen short of fulfilling the hopes of its supporters on both sides of the Atlantic...
Vol. 47 • April 1964 • No. 8
