German Warning

In response to “Kohl Warns Against Delay of European Unity Effort,” June 18:

European fears are well-founded. When you consider that the Danes who voted against unification (a new term for anschluss ) might have a family member still alive who experienced the special treatment meted out to their nation, that fear is founded on reality and fact.

Even more telling is the fact that Germany is currently engaged in a proxy war in the former Yugoslavia. Regardless of the news coverage in The Times, that is a point of concern to Europeans; it is grounded in the reality of a past, and still contemporary history.

For us Americans to also delude ourselves on the potential dangers, which are grounded on past performance, current capabilities and future intentions, would be not only foolhardy but unpatriotic, and disrespectful to our war dead. One has only to drive, or walk, by any veterans cemetery across our nation to realize the great sacrifices those in the ground have made for our current freedoms. As an American veteran, I cannot so lightly take German Chancellor Helmut Kohl at his word.

It is all too obvious that without the mantle of so-called European unity, Kohl might become the emperor without clothes. This might also have the disastrous effect of isolating the real will and origination of the tide of current events. But until most of the facts are in one can only speculate.

SLOBODAN DIMITROV

Serbian-American Community

Relations Coalition

Los Angeles