Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-10-17
BY MAI. GEORGE FIELDING
ELIOT.

The problem of maintaining the
peace of the world after the war is
won is essentially a military prob
lem. That is, 1t is problem of the
application Of force as against any
disturber of the peace, by those
whose interest it is to maintain the
peace.
This problem is capable of analy-
sis on these lines:
l. The force must 'be sufficient to
do its job. That means that it must
be supplied, or supported by, at least
three powers: The British Common
wealth, the United States and the
Soviet Union. The abstention of
hostility of any one of these will
render the force insufficient for its
purpose, and the peace system there
fore fatally defective.
2. The force must be ready to act
without undue delay, that is, before
a prospective disturber of the peace
snail have grown so strong that he
cannot be dealt with save by full
scale war, which it is the purpose
OF the peace system to avoid. That
means that at least the three DOW
ers mentioned must reach a work
able political and military agree
ment. setting up a machinery bv
which timely action may be taken
without long delay and debate.
ms involves not only agreement
in principle between executives, but
appropriate constitutional or legis-
lative action as far as the nations
OF the British Commonwealth and
the United States are concerned. in
order to provide for an ADEQUATE
delegation of power.
Smaller Nations Must Help.
CD The smaller nations can make
very little contribution to the actual
use OF force, because no small nation
today can do very much against q
great power. War, or rather the ap-
pllcation OF force in international
affairs, demands enormous resources.
which no small nation can hope to
possess. Therefore. the smaller ma :
lions must trust the great powers
Tor their security, since they cannot
DO very much to make themselves
secure.
But this means that they must
help by allowing freee. passage
through their territory to forces en-
gagged In preserving peace, the use
OF their bases, and their full political
and moral support just as the un-
armed citizens must give his sup
port to the police in any city.
You cannot be citizen. and &C
cept protection from the police for
your own property day by day, and
then deny policeman the right to
run through your yard to catch a
ourgular next door on the theory
that the BURGLAR is robbing YOUR
nelghbor and has not yet done
you any harm.
Universal Support Needed.
"a But this implies, indeed it
renders imperative, that the system
under which force is applied to evil
doors should be one which deserves.
and therefore possesses the full
moral and spiritual support of free
men and women in all nations.
great and small, save those perhaps
who still cherish ideas of a criminal
nature.
There cannot, for the present. be
created any denationalized interna-
tional police force, because there
are no denationalized individuals
who can divest themselves of everv
national loyalty; nor can there be
any reasonable assurance that such
force would not become a sort
OF praetorian guard which would
dispose of the destinies of the world
as its leaders saw fit.
Nor is it reasonable to SUPPOSE
that any of the great powers will
for the foreseeable future Gisarm
themselves. Therefore, as a prac-
teal matter, the force to be applied
must be the armed forces of the
great powers, and the safeguards
must be those having their origin
in national conscience and consti-
tutional control of armed forces,