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David Ben-Ariel
[SOLVED] The German Threat
The Grand Design
Forty years ago, Franz Josef Strauss had a vision for Germany. Today, this vision is largely reality.
By Mark Jenkins
After World War II, few would have envisioned Germany as a major power on the world scene again. Few Germans would have publicly admitted to national ambitions. Yet today, the German nation is at the forefront of global politics again. An accomplishment like that takes vision.
____In 1965, just 20 years after the war, German politician Franz Josef Strauss wrote a book titled The Grand Design: A European Solution to German Reunification. It is not a large book. It is written in a candid, straightforward manner. This book details how Germany could rise to power again: not simply as a nation, but as part of a federal Europe. In 1965, the idea of Europe as a federated, cohesive force probably didn’t sound realistic to many nations. But less than 40 years later, though Strauss died in 1988, much of his grand design has moved from the planning stages to the world stage.
The United States of Europe
____The central idea behind Strauss’s vision was what he called “a massive drive to achieve, step by step, a European political federation.” This aspect of his plan was to eliminate problems for Germany specifically, Europe as a whole, and even the United States on the other side of the ocean. Certainly the idea of a European federation has been pursued with tremendous energy on the Continent. When Strauss detailed his plan, the seeds had already been planted by the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community via the Paris Treaty in 1952.
____Strauss’s envisioned much more than a mere economic union though: He wanted Europe to become a global power as it had striven to be in the past. This is perhaps best illustrated by the direct comparisons he drew between the U.S.—the only Western superpower then—and what would become a newly federated Europe.
____“Europe only needs to combine its material and intellectual resources to provide for America a partner of equal weight,” he wrote. Strauss did not want Europe to be overshadowed by America.
____Along those lines, Strauss also directly addressed America’s role as the policeman of the world: “America as shield and protector of the free societies is faced by ever greater challenges which in the long run she cannot meet out of her own strength alone. America needs Europe, not only in her cultural role as a modern Greece, but as a second independent power on her side.” Certainly, we can see how these words are applicable today as the U.S. increasingly turns to the United Nations and to Europe for global support. Europe, and Germany in particular, recently has been assuming more of the U.S.’s traditional role as regional policeman, acting as “peacekeepers” in the Balkans, Afghanistan and other regions...
For the rest of the story:
http://www.thetrumpet.com/geo/na/docs/issues/200401/grand-design.asp
The Grand Design
Forty years ago, Franz Josef Strauss had a vision for Germany. Today, this vision is largely reality.
By Mark Jenkins
After World War II, few would have envisioned Germany as a major power on the world scene again. Few Germans would have publicly admitted to national ambitions. Yet today, the German nation is at the forefront of global politics again. An accomplishment like that takes vision.
____In 1965, just 20 years after the war, German politician Franz Josef Strauss wrote a book titled The Grand Design: A European Solution to German Reunification. It is not a large book. It is written in a candid, straightforward manner. This book details how Germany could rise to power again: not simply as a nation, but as part of a federal Europe. In 1965, the idea of Europe as a federated, cohesive force probably didn’t sound realistic to many nations. But less than 40 years later, though Strauss died in 1988, much of his grand design has moved from the planning stages to the world stage.
The United States of Europe
____The central idea behind Strauss’s vision was what he called “a massive drive to achieve, step by step, a European political federation.” This aspect of his plan was to eliminate problems for Germany specifically, Europe as a whole, and even the United States on the other side of the ocean. Certainly the idea of a European federation has been pursued with tremendous energy on the Continent. When Strauss detailed his plan, the seeds had already been planted by the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community via the Paris Treaty in 1952.
____Strauss’s envisioned much more than a mere economic union though: He wanted Europe to become a global power as it had striven to be in the past. This is perhaps best illustrated by the direct comparisons he drew between the U.S.—the only Western superpower then—and what would become a newly federated Europe.
____“Europe only needs to combine its material and intellectual resources to provide for America a partner of equal weight,” he wrote. Strauss did not want Europe to be overshadowed by America.
____Along those lines, Strauss also directly addressed America’s role as the policeman of the world: “America as shield and protector of the free societies is faced by ever greater challenges which in the long run she cannot meet out of her own strength alone. America needs Europe, not only in her cultural role as a modern Greece, but as a second independent power on her side.” Certainly, we can see how these words are applicable today as the U.S. increasingly turns to the United Nations and to Europe for global support. Europe, and Germany in particular, recently has been assuming more of the U.S.’s traditional role as regional policeman, acting as “peacekeepers” in the Balkans, Afghanistan and other regions...
For the rest of the story:
http://www.thetrumpet.com/geo/na/docs/issues/200401/grand-design.asp
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