During the Cold War crisis in 1948-1949 caused by the "Velvet coup" in Czechoslovakia and the Berlin Blockade, Bevin told Massigli that he wanted a common Western European defence pact together with an "Atlantic pact" that would bring in the United States. Bevin expressed much doubt about what France could bring to the proposed Western European defense pact, warned that Britain was very worried about France's domestic stability and expressed concerns that the French communists could come to power in the near future. For Massigli, the principal problem in Anglo-French relations was that he found Bevin rather tone-deaf about French fears of Germany and that he viewed the Soviet Union as the major threat and was quite willing to see a Western German state created to serve as an ally against the Soviets. At a meeting with Sir William Strang, Massigli was able to get assurances that Britain was opposed to German rearmament, but Strang also stated that the Americans did not feel the same way on the "German question" and he was not certain that Britain were willing to risk a major clash with the Americans over the issue for the sake of France. Much of Massigli's annoyance fell on the politicians in Paris, and he complained that they were repeating the same mistakes of the 1920s towards Germany, alternating between the "soft" policies of Aristide Briand and the "hard" policies of Raymond Poincaré, without getting the advantage of either. Massigli argued that the British would take the French much more seriously if only France pursued a consistent policy towards Germany.