Word: germanism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
MUCH ink has been spilled recently, on these pages and elsewhere, on the question of German reunification. And for good reason--it is potentially the most important thing that's happened to the Eastern bloc since Yalta, in which international democracy accepted the fait accompli of a Soviet military blanket over Eastern Europe and thereby condemned millions of its newest members to at least 44 years of political suppression and economic stagnation...
Only the most fringe conservative elements on this side of the Atlantic retain a traditional Cold War perspective on Eastern Europe. The rest have moved to reevaluation--of superpower relations, economic opportunities and German unity...
DISCUSSIONS of reunification, however, can expose several misconceptions about German attitudes, politics and the international context of the reunification. The following are five rather curious views of the German situation, all read or overheard on campus in the past weeks...
...standing in a trenchcoat next to the Wall, reporting on live network television. But the primary obstacle to reunification was never the Wall itself, but the yawning political chasm between two 40-year-old international alliances. When and if it comes, reunification will be preceded by a gradual German abrogation of the opposing supranational commitments which keep them at arm's length...
...Germans have served their penance; now we should reward them for their contrition. We shouldn't flatter ourselves. If reunification ever comes, it won't be a "gift" from the West as much as a concession from the East. After years of presidential rhetoric decrying the artificial German division (from Kennedy through Reagan), U.S. officials have almost no choice but to support reunification. The people agree--a recent New York Times poll showed that over two-thirds of Americans think favorably of reunification. If it were only a matter of U.S. agreement, one Germany would be a done deal...