Word: bonne
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...argued since 1966 that West Germany should attempt to normalize its relations with Iron Curtain nations. As Chancellor, he can now press his ideas even more vigorously than before. He is eager to increase trade, travel and communication agreements and establish normal diplomatic relations with Eastern European governments, which Bonn snubbed for years. Moreover, as proof of his realistic approach, he is believed ready to renounce Germany's claim to the 40,000 square miles of former German territory inside Poland and work out an agreement that would grant a form of recognition to the Communist government of East...
...diplomacy is Russia, but there is also a good deal of national self-interest behind its current enthusiasm. Like many other Eastern Europeans, the Poles have watched enviously as Rumania and Hungary multiplied their trade with West Germany. Russia also has steadily increased its own trade with Bonn, and so has East Germany, which Poland had been counting on as a supplier of sorely needed technology. Moreover, Moscow has been holding talks with West Germany since 1966 about a mutual agreement renouncing the use of force-a deal that Poland fears might not provide adequate security for its own borders...
Whatever the upshot of Brandt's initiative to the East, it does signify a willingness to experiment that has been lacking in recent Bonn Governments. In a sense, his open house for the people of Bonn symbolizes the same mood. Unburdened by a questionable past and refreshingly free of stuffiness. West Germany's new government is likely to be very much open to change...
...issues. In foreign affairs, Scheel and Brandt agree on all fundamental points, including the need to retain West Germany's strong commitment to the West while seeking better relations with the East. Though political infighting provides one of the few diversions in the otherwise small-town atmosphere of Bonn, Scheel has scrupulously refused to be a participant. As a result, he has almost no serious political enemies. "I do not take part in back-stabbing," he says. "Those who wield the knives usually end up sticking themselves...
...year-old widower with a grown son, Scheel in July married an attractive Munich physician who will be a welcome addition to Bonn's diplomatic whirl. For the easygoing Scheel, however, his new eminence imposes a few regrettable strictures. Not the least of them is that he can no longer wear loud sports jackets or whiz about Bonn in his zippy BMW 2500 sedan ("the businessman's sports car"). Even a foe of pretension must allow himself to be chauffeured in a stately black Mercedes if he also happens to be West Germany's Foreign Minister...