236
be restored except through some such diplomatic arrangement.
Western powers do not have the physical means to force the
Union to give up Eastern Europe. They must therefore use
sion, which implies some sort of exchange. One or another
military "disengagement" would thus appear, in the long view,
the indispensable condition of any peaceful, diplomatic
in Europe.
Having conceded this much, the fact remains that a
European settlement is hardly around the comer. Mr.
seemed to be suggesting that Europe, after the withdrawal of
Soviet and American troops, would be defended only by
armies, with respect to which he employed the term
"milita."
point of fact he was thinking of the Swiss army, which is one of
toughest in Europe, although it is recruited according to a
pattern. Furthermore, he seemed to be implying that the
commitment to come to the aid of Europe in the event of an
sion would remain absolute, despite the withdrawal of troops
the continent. Here, however, we come to the weak point of
otherwise attractive proposal.
When the American continent was beyond the reach of
bombs, it was conceivable that the United States could protect
rope without maintaining troops there. Once atomic or
UU;:UIlU"UUUII
equality was established, such a guarantee from afar became
tically worthless. Who could believe that the United States
consent to the destruction of its own cities in order to protect
Berlin? Besides, the question is not what the United States would
~
such or such a case, but how the Soviet leaders would
American intentions. A misunderstanding or a faulty estimate of
American commitment is excluded by the physical presence
IAmerican troops in Europe. This is the primary reason for the
tility in European governmental circles toward the "nuclear
Even supposing that the governments and peoples of
Europe were willing to risk such a vacuum, they would demand,
return, some likelihood of a peaceful liberation of Eastern
Such a liberation would be possible only if the Kremlin, after
mutual troop withdrawal, allowed a reform of the Soviet
indeed perhaps even a revolution of the Hungarian type. But
1
Russia, the Atom, and the W.st.
By
George Kennan. Harpers.
$2.50.
