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At the Berlin wall, where the West's guns now faced Communist armor, the risk of serious incident was already great. In the fierce tension, there was the ever present danger that a single soldier's itchy trigger finger, or a brickbat hurled by a bitter West German, could touch off the fuse. The West could only hope that the East Germans might finally realize that enough was enough. At week's end, wily old Walter Ulbricht dropped a hint of a softer line. "We are ready to give every reasonable guarantee of nonintervention in West Berlin and for a secure and quiet life there . . . We are ready to include this in our peace treaty." But everyone knew that the Communist technique of aggression always included an occasional mild word to lull the naive, relieve the anxious.
