Evening star., 1945-05-14
Hemisphere Security
Seen Met in Formula
Regional Defense Plan Should
Satisfy Latins, Says Observer
By David Laurence


- By David Laurence
SAN FRANCISCO, May 1.-THE Sc
curity of the 81 American republics has
been placed within the framework OF
the United Nations charter by for
mula that appears to meet the various
objections which in the last few DAYS
have tended to stall the conference.
In nutshell the plan is to allow the
21 members of the Pan American group
to act in their own defense against
armed attack" from any quarter If the
Security Council of the overall league
should fail to bring the full power of its
authority to bear against such an at
tacking state.
This means that regional arrange
ment could be made inside Europe, too,
by nations there to protect themselves
against armed attack whenever the Sc
curity Council is kept from action either
by reason OF the veto of one power or
because Of other obstacles.
Formula Should Satisfy.
The formula should satisfy the Latin
American republics because the idea
embodied in the Act of Chapultepec for
the common defense of this hemisphere
has been preserved. 1t should satisfy
Russia and the other European powers
because the same precedent can be
applied to any regional arrangements
in Europe or the Far East
What has happened really is that the
Yalta voting procedure renders the So
called Security Council an instrument
of doubtful value because any one of the
Big Five can exercise its single veto
to block action. Power politics, more
over, is such that whether a nation is
or Is not party to a dispute the pos
sibilities OF using the veto to prevent the
use of force are indirect as we'll as direct.
The system of alliances which Russia
has introduced by her separate agree
ments with France, Czechoslovakia, and
now Poland have been excluded already
from the jurisdiction of the Security
Council. This was really decided in the
Dumbarton Oaks plan and reaffirmed
here at San Francisco so when the final
decision came to put these treaties out
Gil, as insisted on by Foreign Commits
sar Molotov, the natural result was for
the Latin American powers to demand
similar protection for their regional
pact.
Differences which arose inside the
American delega ton on this point have
been resolved. Also it has been feared
nv Sope of tho bio Eiuo he M 10
Security Council Setup would be weak
ened by exempting the provisions of the
Chapultepec regional agreement How
ever, by limiting the exemption to in
stances in which armed attack" is
threatened. a compromise was made
possible. The British, through Foreign
Secretary Eden, were factors in narrow
ing the scope of the exemption because
they would rather strengthen than
weaken the Security Council.
Integral Part of Charter.
| incidentally, If the new compromise
! on the handling of the Pan American
regional arrangement goes through, it
will become an integral part OF the
United Nations Charter Thus our
Senate, when approving the Charter,
will at the same time be ratifying
commitment on the part of the United
States to go to the aid of any other
American power in the event OF -
attack by an American or non-Ameri-
can country. Up to now the Monroe
Doctrine has committed us to protect
Latin America against attack from out
side this hemisphere, but the new ar
rangement obligates the United States
to come TO the aid of any American
country which may be attacked from
within this hemisphere.
The same result was to have been
achieved by new treaty extending the
provisions of the Chapultepec agree
ment which contains temporary guar
antees against armed attack but these.
so far as the United States is concerned.
are authorized under the war powers
of Congress and relate to the present
war. Separate treaty for the postwar
period is now unnecessary because the
United Nations Charter will take care
Of the extension of that commitment
past the time when the present war
making statutes of Congress will have
been repealed.
1t may require a few days for ap-
proval of the new compromise plan to
come through from home governments
as Moscow has to be consulted, but the
feeling here is that an important hurdle
has been surmounted.
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