Word: brandts
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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DURING his first nine months in office, West German Chancellor Willy Brandt has been preoccupied with the elaborate orchestration of Ostpolitik, his policy of improving Bonn's relations with the Communist regimes to the east. Lately, the tempo has increased. Last week West German diplomats were in Warsaw for the fifth round of talks about Bonn's recognition of the Oder-Neisse Line as Poland's western border. This week Foreign Minister Walter Scheel is due in Moscow to continue-and possibly conclude-negotiations with the Soviet Union over a mutual renunciation-of-force agreement. Paris, London...
...year or so ago, that possibility was almost unthinkable. Now it is widely assumed that Brandt will seek to extend some form of recognition to East Germany, probably in 18 to 36 months. The timing is of the utmost importance. It might be a mistake for Brandt to yield to East German demands for recognition without first exacting concessions for better relations between the two Germanys. Ulbricht wants above all to legitimize his regime; once West Germany recognizes him, most Third World countries as well as Sweden, Norway, Denmark and, farther down the road, the U.S., might follow suit. This...
...first step toward recognition, Brandt has suggested that East and West Germany apply for separate United Nations membership (neither is now a member). After that, he hopes to delay further action, at least for a while, by taking refuge in a West German legal technicality which holds that there is a level of relations called Staatsrechtliche Anerkennung (state recognition), stopping just short of diplomatic recognition. Though he has already conceded that East Germany exists as a separate state, Brandt wants to avoid the final stage of recognition until East Germany has agreed to what he calls "human, practical improvements...
Right now Brandt might have serious trouble commanding a simple majority in the Bundestag on the recognition issue. His coalition partners, the Free Democrats, whose 30 seats give him only a narrow twelve-seat majority in the 496-seat lower house, might split on the question. Thus, before Brandt can carry out the aims of his Ostpolitik, he might feel compelled to hold new national elections in West Germany. If the voters continue to give him the overwhelming support indicated by recent opinion polls-as high as 75% in favor of his handling of the chancellorship-Brandt will then have...
...Soviets do not want Ulbricht to jeopardize their own relations with Bonn through his confirmed refusal to come to an understanding with the West Germans. Having assessed the Soviet determination to do business with Bonn, Ulbricht may have concluded that he must either moderate his hard-line attitude toward Brandt or face the possibility of being left out of the Socialist-bloc trend to establish better relations with West Germany...