The Wilmington morning star., 1946-03-27
Air Clears
By ANNE o'HARE MCCORMICK

Premier Stains opportune endorsement OF
the United Nations Organization as serious
instrument for safeguarding peace and inter-
national security will do more to ease world
tension than any statement from London or
WASHINGTON Recent alarms have served to
clarity and strengthen American and British
policy on this issue. President Truman and
Prime Minister Attlee have already proclaim
ed in unraistakable terms their intention to
back UNO to the limit as the agency for
settling international disputes. The President
said fatty in his Thursday press conference
that UNO was supposed to take over. ques-
tons formerly discussed in Big Three meet
ings and it was time it assumed that response
bility.
Now Stain speaks out to make support OF
UNO unanimous. This is a Big Three agree
ment as important as any that could be maze
at conference. It answers the man questlon
that worries the world. Stalin's previous pro-
nouncements coupled with Soviet moves in
Iran, Manchuria and eastern Europe and I'M
derlined by the silence of the Kremlin IN face
of repeated demands for explanations, have
caused universal anxiety about Russia's inten-
tons. Was she bent on settling everything In
her own way? Tempted by the crumbling OF
Europe, the disorder of Asia, the demobillza-
ton OF America conditions that seemed ex-
presslvely created for the spread of Commu-
MIST revolution was she abandoning the
course OF cooperation, primarily a course OF
limitation OF power for course of conquest?
This was the critical question. The impor-
lance of Stalin's statement is that it is so OBJ
viously an attempt to answer it, Issued to
correspondent Of The Associated Press it is
primarily aimed at reasSuring American pub
lie opinion on the eve of the first meeting of
the Security Council in the United States. Held
in spite of a Russian request to postpone it.
its first business grave complaint against
Russia, the opening was foreshadoWed by
fears and misgivings as to what the Soviet
delegation would do in these circumstances.
1t was not beyond the bounds of probability
that it might either paralyze action by invok-
ing the veto or even withdraw altogether
Either action is so fraught with grave conse-
quences that the arriving delegates were ner-
vous; they spoke of the coming meeting as
the showdown" not simply on the Iranian
dispute but of UNO itself.
Stain has spoken to dispel these apprehen-
SlonS He was SO eager to broadcast his words
to the world that they were put on the Moscow
radio before his interviewer could file mis- dis
patch. This urgency is significant. Not only |
does 1t confirm the judgment of those who are
convinced that the Soviet Government does not
want war and does not want to get cut of
the world organization; it indicates that Mos |
cow is concerned over the widespread effects |
of the war of nerves. and desires to calm
the atmosphere.
1t is not uncomfortable that Stain thought of
his declaration as a last-minute move to save |
UNO. Russian actions are incalculable because
we lack the information and the means to in
terpret the mind Of the Kremlin; but one clue |
to tie conundrum lies in the isolation Of the |
Soviet leaders and their inability to forecast
outside reactions to their policies ShreWd |
propagandlstS though they are in appealing to
the anonymous crowds they call 1.-The masses
and IN exploiting the weaknesses of disinte-
grating society, they understand how our
minds work even less than we understand
theirs.
No doubt they are surprised when things
taken as a matter of course in the prepared
ground of the Soviet Union raise such a storm
IN the outer world. There is a hint of this
surprise N StalI1S statement. He speaks as
II ne is sincerely astonished that anyone should
imagine that the current fear of war is caus-
ed by this side" the Moscow translation
READS. Ills affirmation that the strength of
UNO is based on the principle of equality of
states and not on the domination of one state
over others" reads like the words OF sponsor |
rising 20 the defense of small nations and of
international organization against their oppo
nents.
This is clearly designed to be reassuring to
Americans, to the world in general and per
maps most of all to the Russian people. who
from all accounts are a. nervous and depress- /
ed as everybody else at the thought of more /
war And it will be; it is an antidote to the
war of nerves" 1t promises that whatever /
tactics OF delay they pursue in the meeting of /
the Security Council the Russians intend tn |
stay IN. AS a corollary to that promise. per- |
maps 1t 1nsures that their tactics will be more /
successful than if the delegates had met in |
me tense mood of resistance to Russian de-
mands that prevailed before
Certainly it will tighten the air in which
Mondays session opens. If Russia follows this
expression of faith in international cooperation
by an act of confirmation, like the withdrawal
OF her troops from 1ran while the case is dis
cussed IN the larger framework of a general
settlement of outstanding differences, it will do
more than anything to strengthen UNO and
restore the shattered hopes of men in the
capacity off the Great Powers to make peace.
New York Times