THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE

the yearning for peace is as ancient as man's propensity for war itself we in the western world are familiar with demonstrations such as these yet strange as it may seem many of those taking part have lived their lives during one of the longest and most stable eras of peace that europe has ever seen for century after century europe has been a battleground for rival factions and dynasties and the bloodiest conflict of them all actually took place only a few decades ago the tragedy of war is an unforgivable waste of human life and human potential this was cologne in 1946 today the rubble has gone the ruins have been rebuilt and the city lives once more this is the face of europe now after a period of peace and stability unparalleled in the 20th century yet elsewhere in the world not a single day passes without a serious armed conflict to fully understand europe's remarkable achievement we must first look back upon the closing days of world war ii in 1945 hitler's reich was finally defeated by an alliance of nations including britain the usa and the soviet union but as an end to the conflict drew nearer differing views emerged concerning the future of europe when peace returned and the western allies demobilized the soviet union maintained an overwhelming military superiority on the european continent both during and immediately after the war the soviet union forcibly brought under its control a whole series of countries in eastern europe the situation was memorably described by prime minister winston churchill in 1946 from stephen in the baltic to trieste in the adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the continent in the years that followed several attempts were made to establish an international framework for the defense of western europe but it soon became apparent that to be fully effective this would require the participation of its allies from across the atlantic and so in april 1949 10 european countries together with canada and the united states signed the north atlantic treaty binding together each of their nations in a system of coordinated defense and collective security from that time onwards an attack against any one of them would be regarded as an attack against all however under no circumstances would any of nato's forces be used except in response to aggression above all else nato nations desire to live in peace with all peoples and all governments today over 35 years later the peace still holds and the total number of nato member nations has risen to 16. and during those years the recovery of western europe has been truly remarkable so whilst members of the alliance go about their daily business so too does nato at its brussels headquarters nato is a voluntary alliance of independent sovereign nations there is no voting and decisions are taken by common consent each member nation whether large or small has an equal voice thank you good morning morning sir many thanks sir the highest forum for that voice is the north atlantic council under the chairmanship of the secretary general which regularly meets twice a year at ministerial level and at least once a week at ambassadorial level here consultation covers a wide range of international issues and the council provides a unique opportunity for diplomatic exchange a major portion of nato's work is conducted through a network of committees many of them are not specifically concerned with matters of defense good morning everyone the meeting of the political committee is called water their interests also cover a wide range of political economic scientific and cultural questions but nato exists above all as a defensive military alliance except for spain and france all participate in its integrated military structure the military committee provides advice to the council on matters of defense and also to the defense planning committee which includes all members except france to the west in this area for the purposes of military planning the defenses of the united states and canada are organized on a regional basis while the rest of the nato area is divided into three major zones each under a senior nato commander the supreme allied commander atlantic sackland is responsible for 12 million square miles of ocean from the north pole to the tropic of cancer the commander-in-chief channel sinchan covers the vital strategic approaches to western europe in the english channel and the southern areas of the north sea finally the supreme allied commander europe sakyo has a task of defending the most exposed and threatened areas facing the eastern land mass if an attack should occur nato's european defense would begin on the furthermost square meter of alliance territory this posture is known as forward defense such considerations will remain important as long as members of the alliance are confronted by an ideology which maintains that conflict between different political systems is inevitable despite this continuing challenge nato has preserved peace in europe for over three decades in order to appreciate how this has been achieved it's necessary to understand the basic principles of nato strategy this is based on the twin concepts of deterrence and de tant let's take a look first at the concept of deterrence suppose an enemy were to contemplate launching an attack on nato territory he must at the same time be clearly aware that nato possesses an adequate level of defensive strength and also the readiness to use it in reply nato's intention is to influence him into deciding that the use of military force might involve an unacceptable level of risk and consequently prevent a war from ever arising the military forces which nato has at its disposal are divided into three categories the first is that of conventional non-nuclear weapons which are primarily intended to resist and repel a conventional attack on the european front the second comprises intermediate and short-range nuclear forces which are also based mainly in europe the final category is that of long-range nuclear weapons the strategic deterrent the majority of these are based in the united states in nato's overall defensive strategy these three systems are crucially interlinked in what has come to be known as the triad of forces policy with regard to the actual use of its forces is based on the strategy of flexible response but what does this mean imagine the triad of forces as a range of capabilities faced with a conventional attack nato could initially respond in kind however should that response prove insufficient nato could opt to use it short and intermediate nuclear forces should the aggressor initiate an intermediate nuclear attack nato could again respond in kind but if this should again prove insufficient a response at the strategic nuclear level remains nato's ultimate option this flexibility of response enables nato to meet aggression at whatever level it occurs but it's also designed to create uncertainty in the mind of any potential aggressor as to which of its options nato might use thus strengthening even further nato's primary aim of deterrence nuclear war is an unthinkable horror yet the technology exists and cannot simply be disinvented it must however be effectively controlled nato fully shares the concern of those who fear the results of an unchecked arms race but where nato differs from the demonstrators is in its approach on how to prevent both nuclear and any other kind of war some of our citizens would urge the west to adopt a position of either unilateral disarmament or of outright pacifism in practical terms these amounts are much the same and they're not new arguments back in the nineteen thirties there was no shortage of people holding similar views there were peace movements and rallies even then elsewhere in europe there were rallies of a somewhat different kind at the university of oxford the students union actually passed a motion which stated that they would be unwilling to fight for their king or country their words did not go unheeded perhaps not quite in the way they intended but the most serious misjudgment led government level where european leaders failed to react collectively to the danger signs or to devise a common strategy to deter nazi aggression and so as the talk about peace went on hitler simply grew bolder his armies marched into austria then czechoslovakia then poland he gambled upon meeting no resistance and he didn't that is until it was too late the rest is history in the 1980s the policies of the atlantic alliance must be guided by the lessons of history no one can predict with certainty the intentions of the warsaw pact but nato cannot responsibly adopt any policy which could leave millions of its citizens inadequately defended on the subject of unilateral disarmament the soviet leadership has clearly stated its own position let no one believe that we would entertain the notion of unilateral disarmament we are not a naive people and this is how the newspaper pravda understands the meaning of peaceful coexistence peaceful coexistence does not spell an end to the struggle between the two world social systems the struggle will continue between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie between world socialism and imperialism up to the complete and final victory of communism on a worldwide scale the struggle will continue anywhere that the soviet union sees an opportunity of extending its influence in 1979 the soviet union invaded afghanistan oh and in poland they pressured the government into stamping out individual liberties clearly the atlantic alliance must maintain a credible level of defensive power if it is to continue the task of maintaining peace by deterring aggression however alongside deterrence the policy of genuine data is also an integral part of nato strategy and every opportunity is sought to improve east-west relations reduce tension and encourage mutual trust and cooperation the german presentation because they have these principles were reaffirmed by the nato foreign ministers in the washington statement on east-west relations as a further example the conference on security and cooperation in europe resulted in the helsinki final act of 1975 in which 35 participating nations established a framework for promoting economic political and military relations further meetings to build upon various aspects of the original agreement included a conference on european security and disarmament which opened in stockholm in 1984. in the area of conventional weapons in which the warsaw pact has a clear superiority talks have been in progress in vienna since 1973 aimed at achieving a mutual and balanced reduction in the level of armed forces in central europe with regard to intermediate-range nuclear forces negotiations began in geneva in 1981 the united states first proposed that there be no land-based intermediate missiles on either side this was rejected by the soviet union the united states again in consultation with its allies put forward a series of proposals designed to secure equal numbers of warheads at any level to which the soviets could agree they remained intransigent even to the point of walking out of the talks in november 1983 in the area of strategic nuclear weapons the soviet union and the united states concluded the first salt treaty in 1972 which imposed limitations on both offensive and defensive strategic systems in 1979 a second salt agreement was concluded but in the wake of the soviet invasion of afghanistan has never been ratified by the u s senate however both sides have agreed to live up to its provisions in 1982 president reagan initiated a new round of strategic negotiations in geneva these talks are known as start strategic arms reduction talks and are intended to secure significant reductions in the levels of strategic weapons of both the us and the ussr the ultimate goal of all these negotiations is to produce a balance of forces at the lowest possible levels through equitable and verifiable agreements nato cannot claim that the task is either quick or easy only that there simply isn't any responsible or realistic alternative deterrence and [ __ ] by following these policies nato has successfully protected its member nations for over 35 years since the end of the second world war generations of europeans have been able to live their lives in freedom and security nato's purpose is to ensure that this is how it will always remain the preservation of peace and the promotion of cooperation are the ideals which inspire the whole of its work through the 1980s and beyond you