Word: bohlen
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...present position in Paris, Bohlen is, of course, most concerned with NATO. He recognizes that the necessity for a massive American economic aid effort in Europe is gone. But he feels that the Soviet threat to Western Europe is still great enough to warrant an American military presence. He feels that the strength of the detente with Russia has been overestimated. He has little faith in the continuity of Soviet foreign policy and emphasizes that the Russian "official ideology is still basically and fundamentally hostile to our concept of the organization of society...
...best barometer of U.S.-Soviet relations, Bohlen thinks, is not the detente, but the status of the two Germanies. When they are again united, he hopes, then peace in Europe will be guaranteed. Until that time, we must remain wary. Above all, we must not let the detente resign us to the present partition of Germany...
...Bohlen is a firm believer in the rule of "flexibility." This feeling is motivated by a profound belief, that "change is still on the march in the world." The United States must, he thinks, apply this rule in its reactions to the growing independence of its European allies...
Although America is now the proponderant power and the military protector of the West, Europe is striking out on its own. DeGaulle, in particular, must be understood in terms of Europe's general assertion of independence. "To DeGaulle," says Bohlen, "countries are like planets. They have gravitational fields and the bigger the planet, the bigger the gravitational field. If a small planet goes too close to a large one, it can lose control of itself. As far as DeGaulle is concerned, France is a small planet and the U.S. is a large one." Bohlen adds, "DeGaulle is not anti-American...
American military involvement must, then, be maintained for now, but U.S. political and economic involvement in Europe must, in time, decrease. And eventually, Bohlen foresees a time when even the burden of U.S. military involvement will be lightened. The future of Europe, he feels, lies in a unified Europe, capable of its own defense and capable of competing economically as a whole with the United States...