OCR Text |
Show fi Unilateralism New French Policy Once again, General DeGaulle has steered the fledgling Fifth Republic adroitly from among the concert of nations into the troubled and brooding waters of unilateralism. Few nations would dare to venture with such resolve. He has, at the same time, becom,e the maverick and charismatic genius of the post-World War II age. As a savior to France, he rallied its broken spirit and rescued res-cued its ancient honor from the ashes of domestic chaos and colonial defeat. His steady hand has set the French nation on a charted course to rendezvous with the destiny dest-iny of a new Golden Age. However lofty and well-meaning the resurrection of French Grandure may be, it must be carefully reckoned with the volatile milieu in which it will always co-exist. Grandure, in its classical-historical context, is never born in a vacuum, but has precipitated from the deadly interplay inter-play of world economic and "military power. It must be won not assumed or delegated. In this light, General De-Gaulle's De-Gaulle's Grand Design can only be classified as dangerous, even beyond, the implications of the 1962 Missile Crisis, both for France and for the nations of East and West. Through his Delphic pronouncements from the Elysees Palace he has been quick to identify the real dangers of Soviet neo-imperialism and its implications for France and her allies. DeGaulle was quick to approve the American confrontation con-frontation of the Soyiet Union in Cuba and Berlin saying, "That is just what I would have done.'' Nevertheless, this soldier who relentlessly fought the Vichy appeasement of Nazi Germany just over two decades ago has scarcely made a move which has not benefited the Soviet Union, and in a real sense, undermined the future security of France. He has vetoed British participation in the Common Market, atrophied the NATO deterrent, undermined the peace keeping efforts of the UN, hastened the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and denied French assistance to Cyprus. In the past week he virtually destroyed any semblance of Western unity through recognition of Communist China . and the advocation of a neutral Southeast Asia. The water is over thte da,m. American hagemony in the West has been ended.1- The , Chinese Communists have received immense new prestige while the Nationalists Nation-alists have lost even more ground. Southeast Asia lies closer to political and economic bankruptcy. In Laos, neutralism is practically dead. In Cambodia it is dead. Viet Nam lies in a precarious balance, and French neut-ralism neut-ralism could cede the whole area to the communists almost by default. In spite of General DeGaulle's public doubts, it must be readily admitted that the national security of France, Egypt Indonesia, India and other nations "on their own" will ultimately rest with the United States. The Chinese , intrusion into India has proved that point to more than one nation. Scientists have said that France will never attain a military posture sufficient enough to be weaned from American protection. General DeGaulle, who knows the soldier's axiom that "Might is Right'' must appreciate this reality. The last occasion on which hard reality was revealed in naked horror to France was in an ignominious railway car at Compiegne Forest and on the blood-earth of Waterloo. DeGaulle will not be president in ten years. We hope that he will leave a real legacy of grandure or France will perish as she nearly has before. Will DeGaulle remember the lessons of the past? |