European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 5, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 12 the stars and stripes Flora Lewis thursday june 5. 1980 where will France s conflicting policy Lead Paris Trench argument about for eign policy and relations wild the . Still uses the gaullist vocabulary or Independent dialogue and on Occa Sion the same style of High handed Ges Tures. But it is changing. There arc new doubts mostly just below the surface. They Stem from the visible facts of change in world Power. It is common now for the French to speak of i hair country As a Middle and even when they Are worried As a Small part of the european while the european Community has developed a greater capacity to work at joint political declarations than it Ever had be fore there is also greater awareness of How far it is from the consolidation that would bring weight in the world equal to the sum of Europe s parts in population economics technology. The Biggol Ucli change in France from the time when president Charles de Gaulle defined his country s vocation in terms of distance from America and disdain for superpower blocs is in the .-soviet bal Ance. In do Gaulle s Day nobody questioned . Superiority. Europe s fear was How it might be used in Europe s defense. Too provocatively some thought to give Europe a Chance at its own choices and too arrogantly de Gaulle thought to give trance us own Clear id Nti the question is whether there is in fact soviet military superiority. It in t whether the russians Are coining. Except in the secret Back rooms of War planners the concern is not about the direct collision on european battlefields which has always been the subject of nato Maneu vers. It is about the Vcra l ability of the . To protect the West s vital interests in the Distant parts of the world which provide essential Energy and raw materials and the political pressures Moscow can apply with a combi nation of threats inside and outside Europe. President Valery Encard d Estwing of France has taken the comforting View that the soviets Don t want confrontation in Europe and that a combination of smiles and frowns can keep them from pushing Loo hard elsewhere if they arc not unduly provoked. He has French critics within his administration and in opposition. So far he has managed o dominate them not Only by his tremendous influence Over Public debate Here but also because few frenchmen want to argue these Days in favor of following America s Uncertain Lead. Still the attacks on the . Arc John Roche Zey to my i was a Konsto Psi you a Fiji Hoake Zey a ckmri2e scratch barrage of scat or shot so peevish sometimes so contradictory often so ill informed and defensive that they indicate the real issues lie deeper Alc Xandra san Guin Ali an old gaullist with a vivid Corsi Ca n Tongue has made his chief complaint that the very . Promise to defend Europe is to blame for the continent s weak Ness and its failure to assert its interests in the world. The Way he says it the . Sounds like a domineering Mother. Sanguinetti s proposal for a european de sense comes closer to the underlying dilemma. He puts it in a Peculiar Way calling for the do nato Iza Tion of Europe global defense without ending the More careful and deliberately Anonymous French thinkers on Security have suggested a joint european overseas intervention Force to help Slop the russians in the Oil regions and Africa which they believe could be organized to be perfectly compatible with maintenance of France s strictly National nuclear Force and . Strategy. We Don t have the political economic and financial Means to build a Complete defense system without the help of our european partner a recent study said. This reflects another change from the circumstances of de Gaulle s theorizing which poses the major quandary to official France now. In a word it is Germany. The link established with West Germany is the Centrepiece of French policy. But West Germany is no longer a muscle bound eco nomic Power without political will guided by Washington. It retains close tics with America but it has its own firmly embedded Osl politic. Bonn has just concluded a 25-Yoar Trade treaty with Moscow which Chancellor Helmut Schmidt May demonstratively sign with Leonid Brezhnev when he visits the Kremlin late this month de spite current . Economic sanctions. Giscard was pleased that Schmidt with his own interests in mind did not criticize the French president s headlong escapade o Sec Brezhnev in Warsaw last month. Paris always considers it another Feather in its Beret when Bonn endorses its policies de spite american or British doubts. But where is this leading the most perturbing question Secretary of stale music could have asked French foreign minister Jean Francois Poncet in Washington last week was whether France really thinks ils interests lie in weaning Germany away from the . And towards a form of neutralise. That is Seldom Dis cussed Here but it is on Many minds and is a Basic Clement in the criticisms directed at Giscard. France could afford to play gadfly to the West so Long As it was sure that a firmly jct Csc min cd Germany on one Side was harnessed fully to a mighty America on the other Side. At the same time Giscard s France neither likes isolation in Europe nor continues to imagine it can influence its european Parl cars without German sup port. These arc conflicting demands when the . Is urging allies to close ranks to restrain soviet expansion in Asia. French policy has not resolved this dilemma. There arc not even Clear signs thai Paris has begun to fut in directly. Bui people Here arc coming to realize that it is crucial. And to the extent thai France s attempt to have it both ways encourages Germany to try the same in is crucial to the . New York Tymel professionals needed to patrol toxic7 dumps the eruption of it. St. Helens with an explosive Force greater than any a bomb yet tested hit the superstitious Streak hidden by my Robe. A medieval aristotelian would undoubtedly Sec Ilas a warning Earth s reply to the friends of the it. Is. Helens behaviour As singularly perverse it filed no environmental Impact statement with the environmental Protection Agency it did not Check to Sec if Snail Darters swam in spirit Lake in totally ignored the volcanic regulatory commission. To say this is not to deride intelligent efforts to clean up our environment and eliminate notable risks. It is rather to suggest that we look at a number of environmental prob lems in some perspective. Just Over a year ago a minor Accident at the nuclear reactor Al three mile Island in Pennsylvania was converted into a National panic. Even one As illiterate in physics As 1 knew tm1 could t explode and one phone Call to a nuclear physicist Friend confirmed it. Yet instant doomsayers littered up the to screens and converted an unfortunate Accident which should have been prevented by enforced safety drills into a specious argument against he use of nuclear Power. Radiation docs create health risks but life consists of Trade offs and the unfortunate reality is the Only Way to escape radiation is to spend your Lime scaled in a Lead room. If you asked a statistician from Mars who knew nothing of our society what the first step in eliminating risk should be he unquestionably would say ban in principle this is a splendid idea an automatic by product would be a drastic decrease in air pollution. However to mention it As a serious option is preposterous our Economy would disintegrate. To return to it. St. Helens one of the interesting aspects of this natural disaster has been the local Lack of panic. The poor folks who got caught in the cataclysm have not screamed and hollered or joined the Clamshell Alliance. And although there is far More radioactive fall Oul in that Cloud of volcanic dust Drifting Over the country than was Chi cd from Tim people Haven t rushed for the bunkers. The reason is obvious there is nothing in the world you can do about in. Moreover the radioactivity in the fall out is trivial according to my physicist Friend roughly equivalent to living in a Brick House. So there is no Media hype and the people affected just want government funds to help clean up the mess. Even president Carter can t be blamed for this one. As you can probably Ghess. I am soured by they Are thick on the ground in the Boston area. T he Hon and wildlife service practically had to go to the supreme court recently to get permission to kill a Batch of sea gulls who were threatening the survival of some scarce terns. These enthusiasts who reject my proposition that living is dangerous to your health give the serious Environ mental movement a bad name. Their main sin is to approach All problems with equal wild eyed intensity obfuscating the whole problem of so Cial priorities. For instance i think that All governmental altitudes toward the disposal of toxic wastes have been outrageous. The love canal situation outside Buffalo has highlighted this although typically the a coners have engaged in overkill. A Check with several lop biochemists indicates the reports of chromosome damage which have engendered understandable terror arc highly suspect. I want Lough legislation to keep industries from dump ing Poison and rigorous enforcement. For years local officials in Many areas were paid off o permit dumping of Drums of harmless chemical wastes with no questions asked. When the Drums Roi you find yourself with a love canal scenario the contents were highly toxic. The answer is an inspectorate of dumps staffed by professionals who Are Given summary search Powers by the Legislatures. This is a Grade i social problem but As one Iris to build up support for it it lacks political sex Appeal five Nobel laureates four poets three painters two architects and Ken Galbraith in a Pear tree appear to save baby seals. I have nothing against baby seals except on the scale of environmental problems their salvation ranks a mile below toxic waste disposal. But the save the seals Campaign mops up the Media
