The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-05-26
Marginal Note
n ANNE o,HARE MCCORMICK

press on a nerve center like the trouble over
Trieste Unlike most OF the tensions IN Europe,
they are not due to the failure OF the VICTORIOUS
powers to concert. their plans in advance for
the administration Of conquered or liberated
territory. The end Of the fighting might
have taken the victors by surprise, so
little prepared were they to move firmly and
together to carry out joint policy. The Big
Three conferences left too much rnsaid, left
too many decisions hanging in the air. It isl
evident now that even on the cardinal issue
Of the treatment and administration Of Ger
MANY. policies and procedures that should have
been clearly defined and agreed on long ago
are being argued out and worked out on the
ground
This is the main reason why Secretary Stet-
tinius has to leave San Francisco for a hurried
visit to Washington. While the limit OF the veto
power of the Big Five in future disputes is
being debated at the Golden Gate it is neces-
sary to set up the kind of administration in
Germany that will symbolic their unity in
the present victory. Without agreement now,
debate on the next test of unity becomes mean
ingless. and until this agreement is manifest,
the enemy is not completely defeated.
The rumbles of storm in Syria and the Leb-
anon are insignificant compared to the con-
fusions and cross-purposes that show up in
Europe as the armies rest. It is by no means
sudden storm The atmosphere in the Levant
has been sultry for a long time. The national
self consciousness Of these two small states
like that of all the nations on the route of en-
pire. has been intensified by the war, but it is
not product OF 1t.
For months it has been plain that any incident
would fan the smoldering revolt OF the Levan-
tines to flame. The French have now supplied
the incident by landing in Beirut small con-
tingent of troops-only $780, according to re-
ports, but enough to convince the patriots that
instead of preparing to give Up the mandate,
as General Catroux promised after similar
demonstrations last year. the French mean to
| maintain their power. The arrival OF the re-
Inducements broke off negotiations for
| treaty, which were at deadlock, anyway, and
carried threat that the French were ready
| to use force to induce the two Governments to
accept terms they have hitherto refused to
! concede The French on their side claim that
the extra troops are necessary to maintain
| order an admission that the "troupes
specialies' are no longer reliable, and to guard
base for operations in the Far East.
| The conflict is not new but it is set in a new
| framework Syria and Lebanon have represent
| atives at San Francisco, where TOR the first
| time they function as sovereign nations in an
international assembly by virtue Of the rec
ignition of their independence by the Soviet
Union, Great Britain and the United States.
France has also acknowledged the independent
| status of the two countries, subject to the re-
| Lnquishment to her mandate to the League OF
Nations or the international authority that sue
ceeds it. Meantime the French are still in con-
troll.
| Thus Syria and Lebanon are also testing
| place of the unity of the maj or powers. Until
recently the British encouraged them in their
determination not to sign the treaty the French
insist on before the mandate is terminated-a
treaty which recognizes the predominant posi-
ton of France. Now the British, as part OF
their policy Of strengthening France, urge the
| conclusion of an agreement which gives the
French special position But Premier ell
Khoury OF Syria emphatically reiterated in San
Francisco the statement he made to the writer
| few months ago in Damascus. 1--WE are ready
to make a treaty with the FRENCH he said,
but only on the terms we would sign in
treaty with the United States, Russia, Britain
or any other country"
| Another new aspect Of the controversy Is
that there is now an Arab League and The Lee
vantine states are members of it. The League
was formed mainly to present a united Arab
| front against the Zionist claim to Palestine,
but from its headquarters in Cairo it has
issued statement declaring that it will not
fail in its duty to safeguard the liberty and
independence Of any threatened member"
That the first stand Of the Arab League is
made not in Palestine but in Syria is as interest
ing in its way as the paradox that the new
/ 1eQcr&LlOn appears lOT the 1lTSL ClIne III an
i international conference as the representative
| of Arab nationalism.
The outbreaks in Beirut and Damascus will
not lead to more war, but on the margins of
the preface to peace they nscribe footnotes to
the confused story that is being written at
| San Francisco and across the tattered palimp-
i sest OF Europe. The relations of small states
tc great; Of Big Powers to one another; the
determination Of France to reassert her great
ness; the tendency of the weak to combine to
simulat, strength in power politics, and above
these srrvivals of very old world the inn
pulse OF nations to push into a new, inter-
national community all these signs and por-
|. tents are Swallowed forth in strange scene on
street il the worlds most ancient city-the
street called Straightforward the yelled women
!, Of Arabia join the men in a rising for national
i. independence York Times.
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