The Nome nugget., 1946-10-21
Russian Lake2


By SUMNER WELLES, Former Undersecretary of State
 Whether are to have world or two is the out standing question of today. Many who think they be- lieve in OneWOrld order advocating policies which could only bring about the creation of precisely that kind of two-word order which they claim they oppose If any practical example needed to clarify their thinking, that example is available in the controversy over the DardanelleS.
 The security of the straits has been of increasing Russia ever since Peter the Gre captured AzoV in 1896 and thereby faned to the Black Sea The straits afford the Soviet Union here one Warm-Water outlet to the west The nature of the control of the straits directly involves the safety of the Soviet Union
 The right O WarShlpS well as Of merchant vessels to pass through the straits has been matter of dispute since the beginning of the nineteenth century.
 By the treaty of Unkiar Skelessi in 1831 Russia permitted free to the Mediterranean while other power permitted entrance into the Black Sea The London treaty of 194O stipulated that warshps to be permitted to leave to enter the Black Sea-
 The Treaty of Paris of 1856 denied Russia the right to maintain any naval vessels in the Black Sea- The Treaty of Berlin of 1878 laid down the rule that the WarShpS of powers friendly to Turkey to be allowed passage both in and out of the Black Sea- and permitted Russia to maintain Black Sea fleet The Lausanne convention of 1923 established principle by providing for the demilitarization of the DardaneeS and by creating der the League of NationS international commission of the straits Finally the MOntreuX convention of 1886 again changed the rules for the transit of warshps and of merchant vessels permitted Turkey to fOrtify the straits, and reaffrmed the principle of freedom of
 
 peace in time of war;
 Any study of international efforts to regulate traffic through the straits brings out two salient facts The first is that the regime of the straits has been changed when international conditions changed
 The second clearly stated by Maxim LitvinOv at the MOntreux convention when he said "There exists other which is in the geographical situation the Black Sea If the Mediterranean Sea the Baltic were in the geographical situation the Black should not oppose equality of rights between the Black Sea states and those of the rest of the world but such is not the The Mediterranean is not closed you penetrate it through its two extremtes, and that is also the with the other to the contrary you wish to penetrate the Black sea- it is for definite end This may be either to pay visit offer your assistance to state in difficulty in application of
 decision of the League of Nations. For my part, not imagine another legitimate aim for which foreign vessels would enter into the Black Sea-"
 The great difference between the Russian position in 1886 and the Russian position today this The Russian government then willing to place the straits under international control subject to the League of Nations The Soviet today seeks what is equivalent to the sole right control the Dardaneles and to for them to the exclusion of the authority of the United Nations.
 In it's note to Turkey last August, Moscow claimed