Wednesday, September 11,
1996

SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER'S SPEECH IN STUTTGART: HIGH PRAISE IN
GERMANY


Secretary of State Warren Christopher's speech delivered in
Stuttgart last week, and marking the 50th anniversary of
U.S. Secretary of State Byrnes' "Speech of Hope" on the
reconstruction of post-war Germany, met with overwhelming
high praise in the German press.  Right, left and center
dailies discussed the historic ties between the two
countries--emphasizing America's helping hand to a
devastated Germany--and were inspired by Mr. Christopher's
vision of future U.S.-German relations.  Centrist
Stuttgarter Zeitung remarked, for example:  "In times of
small-mindedness and  discontent, Christopher's speech was
a blessing, a necessary  thought-provoking impulse.... The
speeches at the  Opera House in Stuttgart are reason to
hope that Germans and Americans consider the future to be a
joint challenge."  Other observers, while viewing the
speech in a positive light, also expressed some angst about
a changing world, and perhaps a changing America.    Bonn's
centrist  General-Anzeiger observed:  "German-U.S.
relations are groaning under the burdens of the past 
months--but they hold without any problems.  With his
speech, which contained an honest balance sheet (of these
relations), Warren  Christopher indicated the perspective
of this friendship for the next  millennium.  Indeed, new
bridges across the Atlantic need to be built." 
Editorialists stressed the importance of the U.S.-German
relationship in a post-Cold War world full of challenges
such as Bosnia and Iraq, and they were mostly laudatory
about the secretary's remarks regarding NATO.  One
commentator pointed out:  "Christopher's view was mainly
directed to  the Eastern part of the old continent in which
a democratic Russia is to  become an equal partner of the
new community.  But he also created hopes  for Germany's
eastern neighbors by clearly saying that NATO's enlargement 
to the east will come."  

There was very little reaction to the secretary's speech
elsewhere as commentators worldwide focused on the U.S.
response to events in Iraq.  There was some comment in
Russian and Dutch dailies, all of which centered on the
plans for NATO as set forth by Secretary Christopher in his
speech.  Moscow's reformist  Segodnya noted that the
secretary had outlined the "U.S. vision of a 'new Atlantic
community'...emphasizing in particular the need to
formalize NATO's relationship with Russia in a special
'charter.''"  The paper highlighted Mr. Christopher's
announcement that that the decision on NATO's expansion
"will be postponed until spring-summer 1997."  Segodnya
judged that this was "a step in the right direction and an
obvious result of our uncompromising opposition to NATO's
expansion.  Now everyone understands that a stable system
of continental security cannot be built without reaching
agreement with Moscow."   Amsterdam's centrist Het Parool
reported the secretary's announcement of a NATO summit next
year to make a decision about the admission of new member
states.  The paper concluded:  "This announcement of the
special summit is the first concrete step toward eastward
expansion of NATO. Until now there has been a lot of
talking about this issue but there has been hardly any
progress."   
 
This survey is based on 13 reports from 3 countries,
September 6-10.
EDITOR:  Diana McCaffrey

                                 EUROPE
GERMANY:  "Openness Best Policy Between Germany, U.S."

Right-of-center Stuttgarter Nachrichten (9//10) noted: 
"The disappearance of the  external threat after the end of
the Cold War will make disagreements  between the
governments in Bonn and Washington more visible than
before.   In this situation, openness is the best to
maintain friendship between  Germans and Americans."

"What About Future Relations With Washington?" 

Thomas Wittke argued in centrist  General-Anzeiger of Bonn
(9/7):  "German-U.S. relations are groaning under the
burdens of the past  months--but they hold without any
problems.  With his speech, which  contained an honest
balance sheet (of these relations), Warren  Christopher
indicated the perspectives of this friendship for the next 
millennium.  Indeed, new bridges across the Atlantic need
to be built. The problem is no longer defensive solidarity
whose supreme goal is the  defense against the communist
threat.  At the end of the millennium, the  search for a
new purpose of the transatlantic community is now
beginning. 

"This is difficult enough, since the common bases are
covered by U.S. behavior that must irritate the American
partners and that can be  understood--if at all--under
greatest difficulties....  Even the Bonn  government does
not understand the justification of the missile attack on 
Iraq, which was not coordinated (with the Bonn government). 
The  government in Washington must consider what sort of
atmosphere it will  create with such unilateral moves that
contradict the principle of an  honest partnership.... 

"Warren Christopher showed with his address the
perspectives of  (German-U.S.) friendship.  But nobody can
predict how long these  statements remain valid.  In
November, a new U.S. president will be elected.   Even if
Clinton wins, he must assert his policy toward a Republican 
majority in Congress, majorities who think little of the
international  commitments of their country.  Against this
background, German diplomacy  must work against a loss of
quality in mutual relations." 

"Germany Owes A Lot To U.S."

Joachim Sobotta noted in an editorial in right-of-center 
Rheinische Post of Duesseldorf (9/7): "It was no
coincidence that Secretary of State Warren Christopher 
made a stopover in Stuttgart of all cities on his current
trip across  Europe.  It was 50 years ago, when his
predecessor James  Byrnes...delivered a speech which was to
prove significant for  the post-war development....  It was
to be the beginning of the  Marshall plan for the former
Western zone and thus for the reconstruction  of Germany as
a whole.  The attractiveness of the model FRG which was 
founded three years later, should decisively contribute to
overcoming the  division (of Germany) and unifying the
Germans.  Without U.S.  assistance...even this historic
event of 1990 would not have been  possible.  There is no
doubt that the post-war Germans owe a lot to the  United
States. 

"What has come out of it?  The real motive for
Christopher's blitz  visit to Germany was the effort of the
Clinton government to make  palatable to the allies in the
Atlantic Community the massive strikes  against Iraq's
dictator Saddam Hussein.  In Bonn, this was much easier 
than in Paris.  But the permanent unison in views and
convictions is much  more important than an agreement in
individual questions. 
"However, today, on either side of the Atlantic, there is a
lack of  personalities who could continuously center on the
cultivation of  German-American relations.  The years of
the McCloys, of General Clay and  of the German politicians
like Adenauer, Brandt, and Schmidt are over.   Helmut Kohl
is probably the only one whom top U.S. politicians in the 
House and Senate, who mainly concentrate on domestic
affairs, know." 

"Reach Out The Hand"

Maternus Hilger had centrist Bonner Express (9/7): "Fifty
years ago--a defeated people.  But then Secretary of State
James Byrnes...gave us back hope.  When we seemed to be 
lost, the Americans helped us get ground under our feet
again.  We are  grateful for this.  It would be nice if we
recalled this fact in our get-tough society that today many
are faced with such a situation as we  experienced in the
past. Fifty years ago, the Americans reached out their 
hands to us.  Today, we should reach out our hand to others
who are down  and out." 

"Christopher Speech Stirred The Heart"

Adrian Zielcke judged in centrist Stuttgarter Zeitung
(9/7):  "The celebration at the Opera House in Stuttgart on
the occasion of  the 50th anniversary of the speech of
former U.S. secretary of State  James Byrnes stirred the
heart.  Maybe the reason was that post-war times  were
revived again, because they made clear the difference
between the  past and the presence.  But it was a
celebration which did not exhaust  itself in thoughts. 
U.S. Secretary of State Christopher did justice to  his
reputation of being a realistic strategist, since he
referred not  only to the vision of a new Atlantic
community in the next millennium, but he described in
concrete terms the tasks and aims of U.S. and  European
politics in the coming years.  The signal was clear:  The
nations  of the Western world will have a chance to remain
a--if not the only--determining force in the next century. 
Now it is necessary to form a new  Atlantic community for
the next century, a community in which the United  States
remains committed to Europe, a new community in which NATO
forms  the foundation of cooperation.  Christopher's view
was mainly directed to  the Eastern part of the old
continent in which a democratic Russia is to  become an
equal partner of the new community.  But he also created
hopes  for Germany's Eastern neighbors by clearly saying
that NATO's enlargement  to the East will come.... 

"The look back to the past 50 years also encouraged the
U.S.  secretary of state to do a hopeful look to the
future.  Indeed, Germany  quite often lacks the U.S.
optimism Christopher also radiated.  It was  the confidence
that both nations would master the challenges of the 
future, that both nations can build a free, unified,
prosperous Atlantic  community.  And of course, such
community has an enormous attraction for  all other peoples
and nations.  In times of small-mindedness and  discontent,
Christopher's speech was a blessing, a necessary  thought-
provoking impulse.  Foreign Minster Kinkel's address also
emphasized the very close  links between Germany and the
United States.  With similar words, he  sketched out
similar goals than his U.S. counterpart....  It is true,
the  fate of the Bonn republic is closely linked to the
fate of the United States.   And every attempt to give the
developing Berlin Republic another direction would be
disastrous for Germany.  The speeches at the  Opera House
in Stuttgart are reason to hope that Germans and Americans
consider the future to be a joint challenge." 

"Germany's Role In Europe"

Guenter Nonnenmacher noted in an editorial on the front
page of right-of-center Frankfurter Allgemeine (9/7): "As
far as geography and politics is concerned, Germany is the
link  to the states in Central and Eastern Europe.  For one
part of these nations, the main issue will be their
integration into the EU and NATO in  the coming years. 
With the other states, we must develop a cooperative 
relationship that does not single them out.  In his report
about his  visit to Ukraine, the chancellor can tell the
U.S. secretary of state  that Germany is taking this task
seriously to explain the links and to  defuse the tensions
that develop again and again.  The fact that Kohl  will now
also be received as a privileged conversation partner by
Boris Yeltsin also shows which stature Kohl has gained over
the past few year  on the international stage." 






"Big Brother America"

Heinz-Werner Kilz argued in an editorial on centrist
Sueddeutsche Zeitung of Munich (9/7): "The Americans have a
sense for symbolism.  Secretary of State,  Warren
Christopher, came to Stuttgart to remind us of an important
speech  which one of his predecessors delivered 50 years
ago....  The paradox of  the U.S. policy toward Germany has
been from the outset to make the  Germans free and to keep
them under control at the same time....  The FRG  that was
founded in 1949 was not a sovereign state, and it did not
become  a sovereign state either when it joined NATO in
1955.  And it did not  become a sovereign state in 1990
after German unity.  German foreign  policy has always been
U.S. foreign policy.  The Americans have hardly  launched
cruise missiles against Iraq, when the German coalition
firmly  supported U.S. foreign policy.  Kohl from Kiev,
Ruehe from Jerusalem, and  Kinkel from Bonn.  What the
French are allowed to do, the Germans are not  entitled
to.... 

Kilz then discusses the influence the U.S. way of life has
had on  the Germans before he concluded:  "Since the end of
the war, 12 million Americans--soldiers, diplomats, and
their relatives--lived in  Germany.  This has resulted in
the fact that accomplishments that link  peoples like
Oktoberfest and Ebbelwei have been rooted in the vocabulary 
of U.S. craftsmen and shop assistants.  After 50 years of
German-American  friendship, the chancellor could now
travel to the United States and  deliver a speech in
Weimar, Texas which explains to the Americans that  their
country was once founded by Europeans which were
dissatisfied with  the economic and cultural situation at
home." 

"Friends In The Past, Friends Today"

Herbert Kremp had this to say in an editorial in  mass-
circulation, right-of-center Bild Zeitung of Hamburg (9/7): 
"Those who did not experience it, can hardly imagine it
today.  50  years ago, 18 months after the wildest war in
the history of  mankind...the secretary of state of the
America, which had just became a  superpower, came to
Stuttgart and reached out his hand to the Germans.   James
Byrnes delivered the 'Speech of Hope.'  In a prophetical
manner, it  anticipated all the things that were supposed
to develop in Germany in  the following tough and dangerous
decades:  A free, sovereign state, a  strong economy, a
respected partner in the world, and, in the end, a  unified
nation.  Without the Americans, their idealism and their 
determination, this would not have come true.  The Germans
have no better  ally.  This was true for the past, and this
will be true for the joint  future which Byrnes's
successor, Warren Christopher, evoked in Stuttgart 
yesterday." 

"What Are The Goals, Vision For U.S., Europe Today?"

Centrist Der Tagesspiegel of Berlin (9/7) had this to say:
"The things that have been achieved would not keep James
Byrnes silent.  His power for vision would make him wonder
today what the United  States and Europe would do with
their happiness.  What are the goals, what is the vision
for which we can use the prosperity both sides have 
achieved?  It is likely that Byrnes's answer would resemble
the one which  his successor Warren Christopher formulated
today in Stuttgart, too:   Europe and the United States
must carefully cultivate this present of  friendship. 
Those who consider this friendship to be self-evident, will
forfeit it.  But the Atlantic Alliance should not forfeit
the historic chance to be the developing engine and the
protective roof for the new  democracies in Central and
Eastern Europe.  Byrnes's work has not yet  been completed. 
But 50 years ago, even Byrnes could only dream of the 
chance to set up a partnership even with Russia."






"U.S.-Germany Relations"

D. Limberg commented on National radio station
Deutschlandfunk of Cologne (9/6): "In the United States a
generation has been replaced for whom knowledge about the
German and European situation was the most normal  thing of
the world.  It has been replaced by a political class which 
looks to the inside, which believes that the domestic voter
will not be impressed by a trip over the Atlantic.  On the
German side, however,  there is also no reason to act in a
high-handed manner.  In Germany,  parochialism is
flourishing and people tend to look to the inside,  too....


"Germany has lost its preferred place as a front state of
Western democracies and is still about to search for
normalcy.  This should not  lead to transatlantic
disinterest, and this is important for German politics.  It
is self-evident that, in this process, the European 
component plays a key role.  The Americans are calling upon
the Europeans  to bear their part of the responsibility
instead of cultivating  small-minded rivalries.  Foreign
Minster Kinkel said in Stuttgart that it  would be wrong to
complain about a lack of U.S. interest.  He added that 
Europe must recommend itself as a strategic partner to the
United States.   But the Europeans are still far away from
this state.  We can by no means talk about a common foreign
and security policy."

RUSSIA: "In Principle Moscow Welcomes Postponement of NATO
Expansion" 

Reformist Segodnya (9/10) featured this assessment:  "At
the end of last week U.S. Secretary of State Warren
Christopher made a keynote speech in Stuttgart, outlining
the U.S. vision of a 'new Atlantic community' and
emphasizing in particular the need to formalize NATO's
relationship with Russia in a special 'charter.'  A day
after this statement Chancellor Helmut Kohl came to Russia
for an informal friendly meeting with President Yeltsin. 
Many people in the West concluded that this could hardly be
a coincidence and that Mr. Christopher's speech must have
been somehow agreed upon with Moscow, and that NATO's
expension is in principle a done deal....

"In principle, Moscow officials welcome Mr. Christopher's
announcement that the decision on NATO's expansion will be
postponed until spring-summer 1997.  One of Boris Yeltsin's
aides told me: 'The postponement of the date of the
decision on expansion is a step in the right direction and
an obvious result of our uncompromising opposition to
NATO's expansion.  Now everyone understands that a stable
system of continental security cannot be built without
reaching agreement with Moscow.  As a result, sensible
views of Western statesmen are beginning to take precedence
over the NATO bureaucracy's egotistical desire to speed up
the alliance's expansion.'  Well-informed sources in the
Kremlin assert that during his meeting
with...Yeltsin...Chancellor Kohl also agreed that the
questions of further development of cooperation between
Russia and the West as well as the problem of NATO's
enlargement should not be tackled in a hurry.... 

"Moscow is planning to carefully consider the agreement
proposed by Warren Christopher.  If it is a matter of
enabling Russia actually to participate in decisionmaking
on European security with the same rights as NATO members
enjoy, then Moscow could accept the 'charter' proposed by
Mr. Christopher.  If the issue comes down, again to some
system of consultations, the 'new' proposals in fact
contain nothing new and are unlikely to be accepted..... 
People in the Kremlin do not rule out that the new American
initiative is just a device designed to avoid a scandal at
the next OSCE summit in Lisbon.  But then at the NATO
Council's December session, 'they could play a dirty trick
on us and announce a speedy expansion.'  Mr. Christopher
emphasized in Stuttgart that NATO should continue to
enlarge in the future after the first group of countries
has been admitted, so as to include other East European and
CIS countries.  Yet, the enlargement of NATO in its current
form (let alone a continuing and unlimited expansion)
remains unacceptable for Russia, as it has always been."



THE NETHERLANDS:  "U.S.-NATO Expansion Should Continue--
Important Role For Russia"

Influential Rotterdam-based NRC Handelsblad commented
(9/7): "The United States thinks that NATO should continue
plans for expansion with a number of eastern European
countries. Russia should cooperate intensely with the new
Atlantic Alliance.  So said U.S. Secretary of State Warren
Christopher in a speech he delivered in Stuttgart about a
new European security architecture for the 21st century....
'We want to bring Russia into the family of market
democracies and we want the Russians to play a role in the
institutions for European security and economic
cooperation,' said Christopher." 

 "NATO Will Hold Expansion Summit:  Concrete Step Eastward"

Centrist Amsterdam-based Het Parool commented (9/7): 
"There will be a NATO summit next year to take a decision
about the admission of new member states.  At the summit, a
charter will most likely be approved which arranges the
relation with Rrussia. So said U.S. Secretary of State
Warren Christopher yesterday in a speech in Stuttgart. 
This announcement of the special summit, is the first
concrete step toward eastward expansion of NATO. Until now
there has been a lot of talking about this issue but there
has been hardly any progress."  

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