European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 4, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                White House photo from a president Bush and Secretary of state James a. Baker i right during their talks at Camp David feb. 24 with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl left. German questions no one wants to ask by Thomas l. Friedman new York times Ever since the possibility of German reunification arose the Bush administration has chosen to talk about it in the most delicate and positive terms almost As if Germany a division had been an act of nature and not War. This has been intentional an Effort not to antagonize the germans and lose their cooperation at a moment when it is most needed to insure that Europe makes a peaceful transition to a Post cold War order. But in recent Days some american officials have conceded privately that something has been missing from Washington a Public declarations. Thus far that something has Only been whispered in the Halls of the state department and Pentagon. It goes like this an american official said Quot Well you see there was this thing called world War ii and the germans started it. That a Why their country got split in two. Now How do we reassure everyone that a reunited Germany in t going to do it All Over again Quot with German unification now an immediate Prospect and an International framework for discussing it agreed upon feb. 13 in Ottawa the Bush administration s ability to finesse this fundamental question is rapidly diminishing. And officials know it they Are hearing too Many polish British and French concerns that a reunited Germany will sooner or later dominate the continent As it has in the past. It fell to Mikhail s. Gorbachev to express the concerns publicly. Quot no one has a right to ignore the negative potential formed in Germany s past Quot he said adding that the soviet Union Quot has an inalienable right to expect and the possibility to exert efforts to ensure that our country should not sustain either moral or political or economic damage from German  for now senior administration officials say they Are inclined not to Force the Issue and to devote their energies to getting the germans themselves to reassure their european and american allies by being More explicit in their pronouncements. This was a primary reason Why president Bush met at Camp David with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Some americans inside and outside the government believe that what is needed now is a diplomacy More Public than private. Michael Mandelbaum an expert on East West relations at the Council on foreign relations says the United states is not doing Germany or its neighbors any favor by pretending in Public that it is not concerned about the potential for a reunified Germany to destabilize Europe a or for a nervous Europe to destabilize a reunified Germany. A there is no use pretending that Germany is just another country Quot Mandelbaum said. Quot it is not that we have to be afraid that the germans Are going to come roaring Back and invade the East. But there is a certain historical legacy Here and unless we Are clearly on record regarding certain principles a principles such As what a United Germany s Borders might be the fact that it must not be Able to build nuclear weapons the notion that its army must remain of limited size and deployment a we Are going to increasingly see a situation in which Many europeans will be afraid of the germans and the germans themselves will begin to grow afraid for their own  Bush administration officials say that they have hardly been deaf to these issues and that they have been the motivating Force behind the americans private diplomacy. The so called two plus four framework that Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii helped arrange in Ottawa with the wartime allies and the two Germany was precisely intended to address the concerns. Under the arrangement once the two German governments agree on a path to unification the United states Britain France and the soviet Union will sit Down with them and negotiate Border and Security issues. The problem said a european Diplomat is this Quot two plus four is just a framework. What about the Content Quot Here the Bush administration finds itself running up against some of its own Best instincts. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall last november Bush and Baker have deliberately adopted the position that a Low profile is the Best profile a no dancing on the Wall no poking a stick in Gorbachev a Eye just quietly allowing the soviets to keep backpedal ing out of Europe and reaping the rewards later. But the German question is another matter one in which a More High profile american approach May be called for. Historically the United states has been trusted by All the parties in Large part because it is seen As the disinterested outsider. Without More explicit language from Washington it seems that european and soviet officials will continue to express concern that their interests Are being ignored. That is what prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki of Poland did when he said the two Germany should agree to a reunification peace treaty guaranteeing the polish German Border. So great is the polish worry that a United Germany might someday try to reclaim German territories ceded to Poland after the War that Mazowiecki said soviet troops should remain in Poland As insurance until these Quot ambiguities Quot Are cleared up. Under pressure at Home and abroad Kohl took a tentative step last week toward meeting Poland s demands for a guarantee of its Western Border once Germany is United. He told his Cabinet that he would understand if both the bundestag the West German parliament and the parliament to be elected in East Germany March 18 adopted resolutions assuring Poland that the germans will make no territorial demands on it now or in the future. But Kohl also said the Resolution should be like one passed by the bundestag in november. That Resolution included the provision that Only a reunified Germany had the authority to make a final settlement of the Borders. This condition though legally accurate has been the main source of the dispute. His critics have charged that by repeating it every time he is asked about Poland a Borders Kohl has kept alive the suspicion that a reunified Germany could still choose to reclaim territories that were transferred from Germany to Poland after world War ii. Robert Gerald Livingston an expert on Germany at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore makes the Point that the United states has to remember that it Quot is not just Allied with  Quot we Don t have to say that we Don t Trust the germans but we can say that we understand Why others done to Quot he said. Quot i Don t see any problem with our saying it out loud since Many germans have  indeed foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher has repeatedly affirmed his country a intention to remain in nato and to respect its postwar boundaries though Kohl has been less explicit on the Border question. Bush administration officials say that they Are losing patience with Kohls Lack of clarity on the Issue and Are also concerned about his ability to resist soviet demands and Domestic political pressures that a United Germany be Neutral. Bush said one official expects some straight talk from Kohl. In the View of Stephen Szabo an expert on Germany at the National War College in Washington d.c., Quot it is really a Job for the germans More than anyone else to persuade those elements in our country and in Europe that past German patterns of behaviour wont reassert  the West germans Szabo said have Quot a very Good record to build on Quot a 40 years of a multiparty democracy a record of unwavering loyalty to nato and integration into the european Community. Nevertheless he said the German leadership West and East has to make Clear that a reunified Germany will continue along the same path and also accept limitations on its military might. Why for All the talk about a two plus four framework of negotiation and new pan european organizations to replace nato and the Warsaw pact and for All the talk that in the Post Industrial age economic interdependence makes a War in Europe virtually unthinkable these Are Little More than constructs in the minds of diplomats. At the end of the Day what will reassure Germany s neighbors is what always reassures neighbors a stable balance of Power. In this Case what is needed is a stable balance of Power under girded by a military Structure that ensures that Germany s potential to dominate will be held in Check and at the same time will not make the germans themselves feel vulnerable. Sunday March 4, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 13