76-13-B3
- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1977
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Lord Chalfont
TranscriptOn these broadcasts I have, on occasion, called attention to the massive build-up of the Soviet military forces and the fact that those forces are, by every criterion, designed for offensive action. Also, on at least one or two occasions, I've passed on the observations of a member of the British Parliament, Lord Chalfont. His Lordship seems to have an ability to observe and point out with amazing clarity, obvious things that make us wonder why we have failed to notice them ourselves. The latest such has to do with the Berlin Wall. Certainly this ugly affront to all that is humane and decent has been talked about, written about and photographed ad infinitum. It is hard to think that anyone, anywhere in the world where news is available, is not aware that this structure is a barrier to freedom, designed to keep the beneficiaries of enlightened socialism from straying across the border into the affluence and comfort of miserable, imperialistic capitalism. The East German police who man the Wall are not guards on watch to keep someone in the West from scaling the wall to gain entry to their workers' paradise. They are there for one reason and one only -- we are told -- to keep people within the communist world. Barbed wire, trained dogs, land mines, electric current through the wire and, of course, automatic rifles are the guard's tools. So far they've killed quite a number of men, women and young people who yearned to breathe free. Now Lord Chalfont points out an interesting fact, he says, -- QUOTE -- "If one examines a little more closely the East German frontier guards who patrol the Wall, it becomes clear that they constitute something substantially more than a prison service. They are equipped with tanks, artillery, heavy machine guns, and other modern mobile weapons . " -- UNQUOTE. His Lordship adds, -- QUOTE -- "Rather more, one would think that they need to deal with the occasional dissident citizen making a terrified dash for the West. It may be, of course, that they are also there for purposes of military defense. Someone in the Kremlin may really believe that one day the Allied soldiers in West Berlin are going to burst irresistibly out of their barracks and annihilate the 100,000 Russian and East German troops who surround the city." -- UNQUOTE. Then Lord Chalfont calls to our attention something which, as far as I know, has never been openly discussed or even mentioned. He asks, -- QUOTE -- "If that is really the case, there is something else which needs to be explained. What is the reason for that strange concentration of East German troops at Glienicke, (Glee-ni-kuh) a point on the Berlin Wall opposite one of the principal Allied airfields? If they are defensive in purpose, why do they need the latest bridging equipment? The only water obstacle is in front of them in West Berlin. Why do they need chemical warfare vehicles? And, perhaps most significant of all, why is the sector of the East-West border immediately in front of them the only sector along which no concrete wall has been built?" -- UNQUOTE. Thank you, Lord Chalfont. I'm sure if we try we can think of a possible answer to those questions. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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