The Problem That Isn’t There

The Third World War

Strictly speaking, there is no “Berlin crisis” or even any “Berlin problem.” What we are all up against—Moscow and Washington, Warsaw and London, Pankow and Bonn alike—is not a problem of Berlin, but the problem of a divided Germany, within the still larger problem of eastern Europe. Suppose that Germany were not divided. Would there then be, could there be, a special “Berlin problem?” Clearly not; in any international sense. There could still be “the German problem.” Undoubtedly, there still would be the German problem, since there has been for the past two thousand years. But the supposed problem of Berlin would have evaporated.

JB

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James Burnham

The Third World War

Strictly speaking, there is no “Berlin crisis” or even any “Berlin problem.” What we are all up against—Moscow and Washington, Warsaw and London, Pankow and Bonn alike—is not a problem of Berlin, but the problem of a divided Germany, within the still larger problem of eastern Europe. Suppose that Germany were not divided. Would there then be, could there be, a special “Berlin problem?” Clearly not; in any international sense. There could still be “the German problem.” Undoubtedly, there still would be the German problem, since there has been for the past two thousand years. But the supposed problem of Berlin would have evaporated.