Superpowers in Europe
Thus I return to point with which I began:
the fate of Europe rests today as in 1948 in the
hands of the Superpowers. Whether Germany
followed Adenauer's policy of "positions of
strength" or Kissinger's policy of "detente,"
Soviet policy was finally decisive. Whether
France followed the Atlantic policy of the
Fourth Republic or the "national-European"
policy of General De Gaulle, it was Soviet
Russia which defined the limits of detente.
On the other side of the coin, the United
States has engaged itself enough in Europe to
prevent the logic of the Franco-German agreement
from being fulfilled - on the belief, I
suspect, that a "European Europe" is less in the
American national interest than an "Atlantic
Europe." Dealing bilaterally with the European
states, the United States is clearly dominant. If
it must deal multilaterally with those states, it
must be so constructed as to preserve America's
key role. In a perverse sense, Russia and the
United States have a common interest in
Europe. Each wishes a Europe united under its
auspices. That being impossible, both will accept
a divided Europe - and Germany - under
the dual hegemonies. Neither can contemplate
with equanimity a Europe - united or divided
- outside of their control.
