Background: For much of its history the GDR's slogan was "To learn from the Soviet Union means to learn victory." The propaganda line followed the Soviet Union's rather closely. This article comes from a magazine titled The USA in Words and Pictures, most of which was translated from what I assume was a Russian magazine of similar name. If anyone can confirm this, I'd appreciate it. The Korean War was in progress, and this issue carried considerable material directed against American involvement there. Other articles in this issue discussed the role of the rich, the rise in suicide, poverty, and protests against U.S. military policy in Japan. The source: G. F. Alexan, "Wer bedroht wen?", USA in Wort und Bild, #15/1951, pp. 3-6. Who is Threatening Whom? by G. F. Alexan On 5 October 1951, American Ambassador Allan Kirk met Soviet Foreign Minister A. J. Wyschinski. Kirk said that he wanted to discuss the Soviet government's note on improving relations between the two countries. He did his duty by reading a one page statement, but declined to give the text to Wyscinski, since his "instructions were to deliver it orally." Such a way of behaving is probably unique in the history of international relations, and shows the hand of Truman. The President of the United States is conducting his diplomacy according to the gangster rules of his notorious teacher Pendergast: He who does not put it in writing cannot be proven a liar. The Soviet government's reply of 15 October revealed clearly what was going on: a dishonest policy of bluffing, threats, blackmail and the use of the raw power of U.S. imperialism. The Soviet note mentioned the most important actions of the aggressive U.S. policy, the remilitarization of Germany and Japan, and particularly criticized "the establishment of numerous American bases around the Soviet Union." The American warmongers by the way hardly conceal their criminal encirclement policies. There are bases for the newest American bombers in Greenland and Iceland, Canada and New Zealand, the West Indies, the Bahamas and Jamaica. New air bases are also being built in Latin America, North and West Africa, the Middle East and Arabia. The American Congress recently approved 6.6 billion dollars to build or improve these bases as well as others in the Pacific and Alaska. Churchill is a sworn enemy of the Soviet Union and one of the main warmongers. His speech to the English House of Commons on 19 April 1951 showed how far along the aggressive plans of Anglo-American imperialism have come: "The powerful fleet of American aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean along with bases in France, England and Greece make it possible to make concentrated atomic attacks on the critical areas of the Soviet Union, particularly the oil fields in Baku." Churchill did not mention the strategically significant role of naval and air bases in Turkey. Speaking of the subsequent incorporation of Turkey in the North Atlantic war alliance, the "Manchester Guardian," the newspaper of English industry, wrote on 17 May 1951: The Soviet industrial centers are at least 1500 kilometers nearer to air bases in Turkey than from bases in Western Europe. The Trans-Caucasian oil fields can be reached quickly from them. Naturally, the network of American war bases in Western Europe is particularly dense. The "Daily Mirror," published by the rabidly anti-Soviet Hearst, wrote on 18 May 1950: American atom bombs can strike a devastating blow to the heart of the Soviet Union from bases in Western Europe and the Middle East. Winston Churchill is the leader of world reaction. He declared the cold war in his speech at Fulton in America in 1946 and gave the signal to break the Yalta and Potsdam agreements. He declared openly on 27 June 1951: The English government gave the American government air bases in the east of England as early as 1948 from which the cities and important industrial centers of the Soviet Union could be hit with atomic bombs. As a matter of fact, 19 large bases are already at the disposal of U.S. forces, not including naval bases. The situation is similar in Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Portugal, Italy, and recently Franco's Spain. These satellite states have been transformed overnight into enormous U.S. garrisons with huge weapon depots. West Germany has a central role in this conspiracy against peace. Its territory is used as a gathering area for troops, and its youth is to be used as cannon fodder, as Adenauer's secret negotiations with the three Allied high commissioners prove. This is also proven by the numerous reports in the West German press about areas and villages whose inhabitants are being driven away and whose fields are being transformed into huge air bases and military training grounds. Similar reports come from the French and Italian press and from those in all other Marshallized nations. The cynical openness with which the Wall Street Imperialists are conducting their anti-Soviet policies is shown by an article provocatively titled "The Ring Around the Soviet Union Closes." It was published on 23 July 1951 in "Time," a weekly controlled by the Morgan banking house: "The Armaments Committee has approved the sum of more than a billion dollars for building new secret bases, mostly within striking range of the Soviet Union." The magazine continued: "A secret agreement with the French and English governments also provides new bases for American forces in the Mediterranean in Morocco, Tripoli and other strategic places in North and Central Africa and the Mediterranean." An enormous American base is being built by American engineers at Dharan in Saudi Arabia for a "temporary" period of five years. It is of great importance for the conflicts with Iran and Egypt. The U.S. General Staff is also using the most brutal means to establish bases in the Far East. "We control the entire enormous expanse of the Pacific Ocean from the Aleutians to the Marianna Islands. From these chains of islands, we control all the Asian harbors," MacArthur told Congress. That sounds a bit excessive from the mouth of a general chased out by the heroic Korean people's army, despite the technical superiority of his troops. Still, such boasting is characteristic also for his supreme commander. Truman, who a Congressman recently called a mixture of bluff, incompetence and hysteria, is just as much a defeated general as MacArthur. His "total atomic diplomacy," which he spoke of with such big words a year ago, has suffered a humiliating shipwreck. The monopoly of the atomic bomb proved an illusion. As J. W. Stalin said in his interview with a "Pravda" correspondent: American politicians are unhappy that not only they but also other nations, and in particular the Soviet Union, have the secret of atomic weapons. They would like the U.S.A. to have a monopoly of atomic bomb production that would give them the unlimited ability to frighten other nations and blackmail them. General Stalin gave the death blow with these words to the myth of the U.S. monopoly of atomic weapons. As a genuine politician of catastrophe, Truman is putting more emphasis than ever on his "base strategy." Like his "total atomic diplomacy," this too will prove a big illusion. In the September issue of the leading technical journal "American Engineer," the well-known military writer Major de Seversky gives a devastating criticism of his policy: It is really not a strategy at all. Truman takes on everything that occurs to him. He has the typical megalomania: the biggest army, the biggest fleet, the biggest air force, and so on. Truman's policy is that of a junk dealer. American foreign policy is characterized by a colossal dilettantism that will fail miserably. There is no doubt that should the big-mouthed gunfighters and air pirates carry out their suicidal threats of aggression against the Soviet Union, they will meet the same fate as Hitler and his generals.   [Page copyright © 1998 by Randall L. Bytwerk. No unauthorized reproduction. My email address is available on the FAQ page.] Go to the GDR Page. Go to the German Propaganda Archive Home Page.