Word: brandts
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...return for better relations between the two German states in the areas of unrestricted travel and improved postal, telephone and cable communications, Brandt would be willing to grant, within the next 18 months, de jure recognition to the German Democratic Republic in all international affairs. Even so, he insists that in relations between the two German states, Bonn would never consider East Germany a foreign country and that East Germans always would share a common citizenship with West Germans...
...Basically Brandt is embarked on a calculated diplomatic risk. He is betting that over the next two or three decades, the attractiveness and economic strength of the West will work marked changes on the East bloc countries-if only they can be opened up to outside influences. The orthodox Communists who rule most of the Warsaw Pact countries are betting just the opposite: that they can use West German economic aid and know-how to enhance their hold on the allegiance of their citizens...
Outdated Attitudes. Willy Brandt, who learned the difficulties of dealing with the Soviets as mayor of West Berlin, bridles at suggestions that he is giving away too much to the other side. In his opinion, he is simply relinquishing West Germany's claim to outmoded bargaining positions. "Our aim," he says, "is to bring Europe closer together and to establish at least partial communication between the two halves of the divided continent. We mean this in the sense that Communism is itself no longer totally monolithic and that modern societies need interchange of information for their own development...
...Brandt feels that the old West German policy of attempting to isolate East Germany has also become self-defeating. Says he: "I can only be happy when the people in Thuringia and Saxony are in a position-even if they work under a system that is not so good-to make a favorable impression on the world market. They should have the possibility of wider horizons...
Czechoslovak Debacle. One of Brandt's first ventures in Ostpolitik had a bad ending. As Foreign Minister in the Grand Coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, Brandt established relations with Rumania early in 1967 and offered diplomatic and economic ties to Czechoslovakia. The Soviets seized on the West German approaches to Prague as a major pretext for crushing Alexander Dubček's idealistic experiment of wedding Western-style political liberties with Communism. Now Brandt is far more cautious...