Basic HTML Version
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MARCH 9, 1984
PAGE 13
In the February 20 edition of London's FINANCIAL TIMES, foreign affairs
writer Ian Davidson concluded his article "Between Two Titans" in this
manner:
Ronald Reagan may not be re-elected. But if he is, the frictions
between Europe and America � the right way to handle East-West
relations ma � get much worse, because we can be sure that he will
not change his gut feelings about the Soviet Union.... Perhaps
the NATO study of East-West relations will induce a rethink in
Washington. If it does not, it is a racing certainty that the
Euro e ean countries� be forced to . draw the unpalatable�
clusion that there remains no alternative but a closer co-ordina
tion between themselves�roreign and ther'efore security policy.
One of the strongest appeals for an independent role for Europe to appear in
recent times in the British press was published in THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY,
February 2, 1984. It was written by Brian May, who is the author of a new
book RUSSIA, AMERICA, THE BOMB AND THE FALL OF WESTERN EUROPE:
It has never been reasonable to suppose that America would be
eligible for a leading world political role. As Henry Kissinger
onca said, the United States "entered the twentieth century
largely unprepared for the part it would be called upon to
play"....
As the end of the twentieth century approaches, America is no
more fit to lead the West than it was at the beginning of it.
That it should be allowed to do so indicates the depth of Western
Europe's decline.•.. The spectacle of a group of states, which
once dominated the wor.la;"""consideringthemselves to be obliged to
depend indefinitely on their reckless offshoot£!;� other side
of the Atlantic must be one of the most ludicrous in history. For
IT ""Ts clear th� whatever conclusion is arrfved at on the
question of whether or not the Russians are a danger, Western
Europe, both to regain its self-respect and to avoid the serious
7
xisting hazards of the Atlantic Alliance, must gain its complete
independence....
It would be unseemly to blame Washington for Western Europe's
predicament.
It was not the United States that caused its
decline and fall.... Instead of self-sacrifice and discipline, we
find unprecedented self-indulgence and permissiveness •... Money
that could have been used to train and equip conventional armed
forces was frittered away on what the previous generation would
have considered to be unheard-of luxuries....
Failure to take the bold action needed to achieve West European
unity and to avoid dependence on a remote ally amounts to a
historic collapse from which it would be hard to recover. Does
Western Europe really have to be a pawn in this pointless con
flict, constantly in danger of being swept from the board? If it
does not, it should act quickly. For a divorce that was too slow
could be too late.
--- -
---- --- --- ----
Europe today finds itself, as French defense expert Pierre Lellouche said a
couple of years ago, at an "historical stage," namely "halfway between a
much weakened Atlantic system and a still embryonic European framework."
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau