Monday, February 04, 2008

European Fallout

This was published in The Blade newspaper, Toledo, Ohio.

The Blade Reader's Forum
Tuesday, July 21, 1987

To the Editor of The Blade:
Tear the Berlin Wall down; so appealed President Reagan recently to Russian President Gorbachev.
President Reagan may get more than he bargained for. Even as when the wall of Jericho came tumbling down, that served as a signal act of the end of an era and the start of a new civilization, so also the end of a divided Germany could lead to a united Europe.
A growing number of politicians are echoing the sentiments of the Polish Pope, who envisions a Europe without frontiers from the Atlantic to the Urals.
Western Europe is in essence the vast material body awaiting the entrance of the East's religious soul. The Warsaw Pact countries have long ago lost their "buffer zone" capability, ever since the advent of the bomb.
Will glasnost increasingly include the decoupling of the stagnant East from Russia? Undoubtedly that would be contingent upon the decoupling of the West from the United States.
Europe and the rest of the world may soon find themselves surprised. The only question is, would this new but old Europe remain an ally of America? They would have to be equipped with their own nuclear force, answering only to their new European commander since NATO would be scrapped. Supposedly, if not our ally, they'd be neutral, but could either Russia or America dare take such a change, risking it all?
A united Europe of and by itself is an excellent idea, a must. It's just the haunting questions and lingering doubt about their new role that are disturbing. Which way Europe?

DAVID A. HOOVER*
Perrysburg, Ohio
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