Tensions within the West

Abstract

Had the transatlantic bargain been inspired by no more than the desire to balance Soviet power in Central Europe and to control Germany, it might have survived until 1985, but it certainly would riot have prospered. The founding of NATO reflected hopes as well as fears, and those were recorded in the North Atlantic Treaty. The treaty’s preamble declared that the parties to the treaty were “determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law.” With an economy of language which characterized most of the treaty, the allies asserted that the alliance was not simply a traditional arrangement among nations to preserve a favorable balance of power. The treaty therefore recorded some beliefs and interests shared by the allies which might have drawn them together even in the absence of a common threat to their security.

If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

ST. MARK 3:25, THE BIBLE