6 - Friday, November 8, 1985 — North Shore News Editorial Page — News Viewpoint Still serving | pie November 11, Canadians across the country pause in a silent moment of remembrance for the men and women who served our country during wartime. More than 100,000 died. They gave their tives and ’ their future so that we may live in peace. This year is no different as both North and West Vancouver hold their traditional Remembrance Day parades. But this is a special year for the war veterans living in Canada and the members of their organiza- tion the Royal Canadian Legion. The Legion deserves a special salute from all Canadians this year as it celebrates its Diamond Jubilee. From humble beginnings in Winnipeg dur- ing the aftermath of World War |, the Legion has grown intc Canada’s Jargest ser- vice organization with 600,000 members and affiliates in more than 1,600 branches, Originally designed to help veterans of the South African War and World War | re- adjust to civilian life, the Legion still ex- presses its original values, but its activities in the community have extended much further. In 1984, the Legion contributed almost $30 million and thousands of hours of veteran time in the implementation of its service programs and activities. The Diamond Jubilee is also the occasion when the veteran members symbolically begin the process of handing on the respon- sibility of running the Legion to its sons and daughters. So give generously to the annual poppy campaign in remembrance of those who fell in battle and for the continued efforts of those now carrying the torch. What recovery? , The premier says the recession is over and B.C. is now in a period of recovery. We are heartened to hear this as we were beginning to get worried. The front page of a local daily newspaper this week reported 1) the VSO reeds $900,000. to survive, 2) 300 workers ‘are out of work after.a Burnaby bot- ting plant closed and 3) a teacher’s banking co-op is verging on failure. We'd hate to hear the bad news if this i is the good news. wavectermecuawaresien | Display Advertising 980-0511 7 are _ Classified Advertising 988-6222 Newsroom " 985-2131 Circulation © * 986-1337 Subscriptions | 986-1337 1138 Lonsdale ave, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 TUDAY + WEOHERDAY > rmeay Publisher Peter Speck General Manager Roger McAfee Operations Manager Berni Hilliard Adverilsing Director Advertising Administrator Linda Stewart | Mike Goodse Circulation Director . Editor-In-Chief Bill McGown | Noel Wright Photography Manager Production Director Terry Peters | Chris Johnson Classified Manager ; Val Stephenson North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule !!!, Part 111, Paragraph Sil of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd, and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration, Number 3885. Entire contents © 1985 North Shore Free Press Ltd. Ail rights reserved. Subscriptions, North and West Vancouver, $25. per year. Mailing tatos available on request. No responsibility accepted for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. Member of the B.C. Press Council cea :| 56,245 (average, Wednesday SOA OMSION Friday & Sunday) THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE Europe's NATO THE PEACE INDUSTRY-PART 2 A PINT-SIZED CITY built 18 years ago near the Europe is asking for big Belgian-French border holds one of the main keys trouble. to peace or nuclear devastation in today’s tense world. Some four square miles in area and surrounded by se- curity fencing, its population numbers around 12,000 men, women and children from 14 nations. In addition to the sprawl- ing building complex where its vital business is con- ducted, the city boasts nearly 1,000 family homes and bachelor units. A shopping plaza, 12 schools, medical- dental centres, hospital, chapel, library, theatres, clubs, dining places and sports facilities of every kind. Plus FM radio and color TV stations, The name of the ‘‘city”’ is’ SHAPE — Supreme Head- quarters Allied Powers’ Europe, the military arm of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. ° In the deadly poker game played by the two super- powers for the past 35 years Western Europe remains the tinderbox which — in the event of attack by Warsaw Pact forces — could most easily spark the final worldwide Armageddon. During the years im- mediately following World War Two the threat of Eastern Bloc expansion westward loomed very real, culminating in the 1948 Rus- sian blockade of Berlin. | was there at that time and there seemed no reason to doubt that Uncle Sam’s then bigger atom bombs were the only argument that stopped Ivan from keeping right on rolling. It was against this backdrop that the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty was signed. : NATO today consists of 16 nations: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, West Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Holland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the U.K. and the U.S. They are completely equal with no hierarchy. Alliance decisions are taken unanimously or not at all, The governing body, the North Atlantic Council, the international secretariat and the permanent missions of the member-nations occupy their own massive complex on the outskirts of Brussels. Here and at SHAPE our visiting media group talked at length with a score of senior NATO repre- sentatives, including Cana- dian Ambassador Gordon Smith and Major-General Val Pattee, Canada’s rank- ing NATO general. NATO's single purpose — now as in 1949 — is to tell Russia and her allies that any invasion of Western NATO Secretary-General Lord Carrington of Britain. Noel Wright For, 35 years the fatter have got the message. But ® focus not from fear of defeat. by NATO's armies, air forces and fleets, fine fighting units though they are. NATO chiefs make no bones about the fact that their Western European forces of about 2.6 million are outnumbered, out-gunn- ed, out-tanked and out- flown by those of the War- saw Pact. In an all-out at-, tack by the latter, the best the Allies immediately can count on is to stem the tide long enough to gain a little time. Time for what? Time to weigh the next options — the crux of the NATO strategy of ‘‘flexible response.’’ There are three. First, of course, fast rein- forcements airlifted from North America. But even BRUSSELS HEADQUARTERS of the 16-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization. watchdog these wouldn’t . match: the reinforcements available to the Warsaw Pact. ... Second, the option of us- _ ing “‘battlefield nukes’. — Pershing ‘and Cruise- tactical nuclear missiles deployed in Western Europe and match- ed by. roughly similar Rus- sian SS missiles. | Third, the Doonisday . .Op- tion of intercontinental ‘nu- clear missiles aimed, at the enemy’s heartland, ‘No fur- ther comment needed. Grim as this “scenario seems, it’s a much’healthier deterrent than the.Dooms- day option alone,’ which is all that existed prior : to NATO. What. ‘‘flexible response’’ says is just this: “If you attack, we can promise to bloody your nose with conventional weapons and if you still keep on com- ing, you know what may happen next — so think , about it, buster!’’ Behind the Iron Curtain they’ve been thinking about it for over a third of a cen- tury. . In 1982 the Allied heads of state pledged that ‘‘none of our weapons will ever be used except in’ response to attack.”? As a purely defen- sive alliance, conforming to the UN .Charter,! Europe’s NATO, .watchdog has a peace-keeping track record to date that has stood the test. NATO photo