A little more respect for facts and a little less sensationalism can be urgently recommended to foreign observers of German conditions. We have a viable and alert democracy here. The Federal Republic is a useful and dependable building block for a united Europe. We have a purpose that goes beyond that of preventing National Socialism from ever arising again among us in Germany. We also want to forestall a revival of nationalism in Europe.
European agreements work toward that end.
It is quite wrong to consider them primarily or even exclusively in terms of defense against Soviet Aggression. I am convinced that these tensions between East and West will pass in time. But the European agreements look forward toward a far more distant future. They will be in force for fifty years, and are intended to make war among the European nations impossible in the future. The Europeans are universal.