76-12-A5
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Brezhnev[edit]
Transcript[edit]There was another part to Mr. Brezhnev's recent speech on human rights that deserves more coverage than it received from our press. I'll be right back. On March 21st, Leonid Brezhnev made a speech warning the President of the United States to lower his voice on the subject of human rights. He, of course, received worldwide coverage, indeed we could all be excused if we thought that's all he talked about. It wasn't. He had things to say about the Middle East and, frankly if a man biting a dog is more newsworthy than a dog biting a man, then the world press missed the real news in his speech. In introducing the subject of the Middle East, Brezhnev sounded as if a reconvening of the Geneva Conference on the Arab-Israeli stalemate might be in order. Then, speaking for the Soviet Union, which co-chairs the Geneva Conference, he outlined what his country considers essential to a peaceful settlement between Arabs and Israelis. He said, quote, "We hold in particular that the final document should be based on the principle of," now hear this, "the impermissibility of acquisition of territory by war." Unquote. He then went on to say that Israel should withdraw her military forces from all the territory she took in the 6-Day War back in 1967, and, of course, return that territory to the Arabs. This to be sure is one of the bones of contention in the present stalemate and could raise among us Americans a question of "Why not?" After all, we fought two world wars, were victorious in both and never asked for or took so much as a square inch of anyone else's territory. But we'd be pretty naive if we applied that yardstick to Israel in the present situation. The real issue in the Middle East had to do with the Arab refusal to recognize that Israel has a right to exist as a nation. To give up the buffer zones Israel took in the Six-day War could be to put cannon on her front walk aimed at her front door by those who said she must be destroyed. But let's take a look at those other words of Mr. Brezhnev. He's telling us the Soviet Union does not believe any nation has the right to hold territory seized by force of arms. Well let's play "What if?" What if the United States said to Israel, "You give back that territory to your Arab neighbors and we'll enter into a treaty with you. A mutual aid pact, that says if you're attacked we come to your aid. Don't go away. There's more to come if we're playing "What if?" Then we say to the Soviet Union by way of Mr. Brezhnev, quote, "You, of course, must get out of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which you seized by force of arms." Unquote. And come to think of it, that means turning loose Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, East Germany and Romania. As a matter of fact there are some islands north of Japan and some territory in Mongolia you occupy only because you joined the fight against Japan 20 minutes before the end of the war. I don't think they heard a single shot fired in anger. And up till then Korea was one nation. It only became a North and South Korea because the Soviets came in like a squatter and homesteaded the north half. Unfortunately, that was during a time when we were in that 'Good, Old Uncle Joe' mood thinking Stalin was going to turn out to be the gruff, old codger with a heart of gold. How about that? One sentence by Brezhnev in a speech on March 21st 1977, and if everybody, especially him, did what he said, peace would come to the world. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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