European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 a the stars and stripes columns Jon Talton Germany proves Success of . Foreign policy to Ste jefir2her eff coif Fermi try int to to amp Isa former Jin and Leipzig me. / / mde her debut in me Njma a tank in a Hague. The brides father or. Esleym Jne it l a a fancy. Stalin was a founding Art Mner it Hitler amp Stalin a major mergers an acquisitions farm in the Early sorties fax Germany a amp a Marshall flan so Lular and received an my a. Trvin 1va7&. A a Germany father was amp a Stanfor 10 imminent National socialist ufos. Jno a the Bride fact a hid or world Smi nation in lift if he nov Kissinger says nations have certain interests that transcend ideology. Thus the inevitability of German unification has awakened at least the outward traces of age old fears rivalries and ambitions that slept during the cold War. The new democratic Poland for All its hatred of Moscow lined up with the soviet Union in the successful Effort to Force Chancellor Helmut Kohl to renounce German claims to polish territory. This is the very same Way Warsaw has played off its two bigger stronger neighbors against each other for centuries. Meanwhile France is nervous a even though Bonn is probably its closest ally. Mikhail Gorbachev worries about a Germany Allied with the West. And Kohl inadvertently fuelled All this by hesitating on the polish Border Issue. Germany has been too big for Europe to ignore Ever since Otto von Bismarck unified the German states in 1871. Today West Germany is the most economically powerful nation on the continent and in the european Community. It dominates Europe whether it wants to or not. But this is not to embrace historian . Taylor a controversial and dubious proposition that world War ii would have happened with or without Hitler. This is not 1933 or 1939, or 1914 for that matter. History does not repeat itself. West Germany has More than 40 years of favourable experience with democracy and capitalism a distinct difference from the unhappy authoritarian turmoil that preceded Hitler. The West germans have proven themselves trustworthy allies of the Western democracies. Most of the economic military and ideological factors that led to the world wars arc gone from both West Germany and Western Europe. Huge citizen armies colonial rivalries Trade wars the dominance of arms industries and the bitter heritage of Versailles or Sedan arc All missing today. Totalitarianism a the Century a bloody executioner a seems to have been vanquished in Europe. The Happy news for Germany and the world is this prosperous democratic capitalist nations simply done to Start major wars. They have too much to lose. Moreover As Gorbachev must Calic nato membership is the Best guarantee that Germany remains Pacific and involved in the world. A unified Germany can change the world. With the worlds third largest Economy West Germany already is an economic superpower. It leads its other dec partners in exports imports Gross National product and most other measures. Its ties to Eastern Europe already arc the strongest on the continent and West germans should Benefit disproportionately from Freedom in the East. The demise of the communist bloc is a Boon to West Germany which was plagued by stagnation through much of the �?~80s. While the United states was creating millions of new jobs unemployment was relatively High in West Germany which also suffers from a Low birthrate. Over regulation labor troubles and High taxes Hurt German business. For the past year or so Bonne a Economy has picked up again at least in part because of expanded opportunities in the East and new workers from East Germany. Germany also faces great dangers in unification. Some of these Are economic or fiscal such As the problem of exchanging currencies Between the two German states the health of the Bond Market the risk of inflation and the Cost of rebuilding East Germany a ossified Economy. Other dangers come from the political and philosophical Arenas. Unification will Only strengthen the social democrats. While few True socialists remain in european politics the spa has the same attraction to regulation High taxes and heavy government spending of other left of Center parties in the West. An spa infatuation with neutrality could be disastrous. Germans also have a historic fear of the free markets creative chaos. To the extent that they legislate this fear the German Economy will suffer. Unfortunately for the new crop of american isolationists Germany will not present a monolithic danger to the United states Economy. While Germany will be a Strong competitor it also has a much More balanced Economy than Japan. As Germany grows so will opportunities for american companies and Consumers. A unified democratic Germany in a unifying democratic Europe is the crowning Triumph of american foreign policy in the postwar Era. The great Experiment of the new world has been embraced by the old. Cox news service columnist Talton writes for Dayton Ohio daily Lewis cooperation consolidation safer for All in Europe the momentum is growing now to Speed integration of the european Community As the Best Way to Deal with the dramatic changes going on. Some old arguments about states is. Supranational list Are resurfacing. But As leaders face up to the aftermath of the political earthquake in the East the conviction is growing that they must move on in the direction of a United Stales of Europe not slide Back to the prewar system. The latest sign came at a conference of Italy a Christian democrats on a Europe without a much of the talk was about How everybody else can live with a big Germany and How to assure continued . Involvement in Europe. Dorothea Wilms West Germany a minister for inter German affairs gave unequivocal assurances of her country a will to embody its coming Unity in a United Europe to a euro Peanie Germany a As she put it. If Chancellor Helmut Kohl had been As forthright and outward looking Over the last six months there would have been much less of a worried outcry. But she also showed that Bonn is responding to the outcry with More sense of the need to remember its partners fears and interests. Though not a senior minister she is however a member of Kohls cd and she spoke for the government. Of immediate importance was confirmation that Bonn will definitely commit itself to dec monetary and economic Union and to stronger political institutions at the Dublin Summit on april 28. Timing is everything in Europe shelter shelter Rush to arrange itself for the Post cold War period. This Means that the european 12 will have a Chance to work out the implications of absorbing East Germany before the Deutsche Mark replaces the East Mark expected to take months and to be carried out in phases. There Are two sets of concern about unifying Germany now. In the Short term the Effort will put Strong inflationary pressure on the Mark threatening higher interest rates and lower Exchange value which would upset Western economic relations. But the adjustment is urgent. As Guido Carli Italy a finance minister said a people Are moving faster than capital now. It amounts to a Send me your Marks or take me a Wilms said 2 million ethnic germans were Likely to move West this year most of them from East Germany and Roma Nia. The exodus has already created a grave shortage of medical services in East Germany and Bonn has allotted some $200 million for emergency Aid. In five years Carli estimated Germany will be an unchallengeable economic Power. Unless there is integration of the currency and Central Banks Italy and Many other countries fear they will be marginalized economically and politically. The news from Wilms was that Bonn had decided it must hurry up working with its partners on Europe a Money and organization. This can mean the Start of a formal dec conference Well before West Germany a december elections instead of just after As planned. Britain has been the major drag apart from Kohls electoral Maneu vers. But prime minister Margaret Thatcher is thinking. The tory establishment and the foreign office Are in almost open revolt against her european policy. They too fear she is marginalizing her country relying on a vanished a special relationship with the . And losing any Chance to influence the new Europe. If she Falls it will be for Domestic reasons not european policy. But the policy will change. It could change anyway if she decides that would give her a better Chance of holding on. She too worries about Germany but has yet to accept that Britain would carry More weight by joining than fighting. It was the cold War that brought the sudden almost overnight shift of Germain and Japan from the status of Defeated enemies to valued allies. The change came much faster than Many could digest it. The sudden end of the cold War two generations later is showing How much residual emotions must still be Taiwo ii into account by the losers As Well As me victors. ,. There was a lot of postwar planning dining world War ii however and strut hires were established that could encompass me change. There was no Post cold War planning. Everything has to be improvised. The urges of nationalism Are still t Hei e. Pulling countries Back into Traditi Oua calculations about balance of Power i1 1 rivalry. But so Are the fears of excl sic. Of being left alone to face a hostile or eve indifferent world. With american leadership these concerns brought the postwar system we worked Well enough to make the Idu cooperation consolidation the More. Tractive now. Its safer for everybody. C new York times
