Storm over the Alliance

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There were indications at a high-level NATO meeting last week that the tempo of the pact's modernization program might quicken the spending increase. France and Britain are updating their own small nuclear forces. Europe has also strengthened the alliance by defying Soviet protests and allowing the U.S. to deploy medium-range nuclear missiles in some countries. To bolster NATO even more, the U.S. is asking its friends to assume further responsibility for their own defense, thereby freeing American forces for duty in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere.

One allied argument for not supporting the U.S. was that the events in Iran and Afghanistan were outside of their purview—that they were not covered by the terms either of the NATO alliance or the American defense treaty with Japan. Technically, this is true, but events far distant from Europe or East Asia may still profoundly affect the security of those regions. Referring to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Carter last week said that unless the allies "stand united [and] take firm action to show the Soviets that they will suffer because of it, that might lead to increasing encroachment by the Soviet Union against other countries."

What it comes down to, says Jean-François Revel, director of L 'Express, the French weekly newsmagazine, is that "the allies cannot at the same time be in the Atlantic Alliance and act as if they are not in the alliance. Membership in an alliance implies responsibilities."

America's allies are apparently beginning to accept this fact, which is why they are expected to take stronger action backing U.S. policies on the hostages and Afghanistan than they had planned at first. Some of Schmidt's aides admit that the original Western European assessment playing down the significance of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was wrong; the more alarmist American view, they now agree, was closer to reality.

This hardly means that unanimity is about to link the allies forevermore—or for a week. As Secretary of Defense Harold Brown told TIME: "To us, allied behavior sometimes is going to be annoying, as our behavior is sometimes annoying. Allies will sometimes complain that we are not leading, and sometimes complain that we are twisting their arms. There is no action that we can take that will ever allow us to be totally free of both complaints. That's just how it is."

But the U.S. and its allies could take some steps to try to prevent a recurrence of the tensions that caused the current crisis. For the alliance to emerge stronger, it will have to take into account the changing global situation and the new power relationships among the allies. Says former Japanese Foreign Minister Kiichi Miyazawa: "The U.S. must recognize the plurality of interests of her allies and accept the consequences." Delaware's Senator Joseph R. Biden suggests the U.S. should be prepared to share its oil supplies with allies whose flow is curtailed because they backed American policy in the Middle East. Says Biden: "If we call the tune, then we've got to be willing to pay the piper." The clock cannot be turned back to a time when America led and the others marched obediently to the American drum, nor can the U.S. rely on sheer power to drag the allies along. Says British Foreign Affairs