Word: kohl
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Helmut Kohl has infuriated the Bush Administration by trying to save his political skin with a call on the superpowers to negotiate over short-range nuclear weapons. But however pusillanimous his motives may be, Kohl happens to be right in what he recommends. Tactical nuclear weapons have never made sense, especially concentrated in West Germany, the putative battlefield where World War III would begin. If American tactical missiles were ever fired in anger, they would raise mushroom clouds over German territory and probably kill more local civilians than foreign invaders. If, on the other hand, the missiles were not fired...
...even less. In fact, these weapons are good for nothing except as bargaining leverage to remove similar Soviet missiles in Eastern Europe. Thus the current furor is surprising only in that it took so long, and so much pressure from the left, for a West German Chancellor to adopt Kohl's present position...
Nonetheless, Chancellor Helmut Kohl did not back down, and last week formally proposed negotiations with Moscow. In the U.S. view, the German demands threaten the entire NATO strategy of nuclear deterrence. For 40 years NATO has relied on nuclear weapons to offset the Warsaw Pact's overwhelming superiority in conventional arms. The backbone of its land-based tactical nuclear force consists of 88 U.S.-made Lance launchers...
West Germans, who are increasingly opposed to such weapons, have become disillusioned with Kohl, who faces elections next year. To help Kohl with his political problems, the U.S. agreed to delay a decision on deploying an updated, longer-range Lance (up to 280 miles). In return, U.S. officials got the impression that Bonn would not press for missile talks with the Soviets . until there is significant progress on limiting conventional arms...
...next day, Genscher persuaded Kohl to renege on the agreement, mainly as a desperate ploy to win domestic political points. In London an angry Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared that "anything to undermine NATO will be damaging to the defense of liberty." The West Germans, though, have support from other NATO members, and diplomats suggested the likelihood of a compromise before the alliance's summit meeting in May. But NATO cannot discount the dominating figure of Mikhail Gorbachev. In the minds of many Europeans -- if not in fact -- Gorbachev has removed the Soviet threat with seductive arms initiatives, particularly...