Evening star., 1946-04-28
Secrecy to Cloak Meeting
OF Big Four on Peace Plan
Fate of Several Nations to Be Settled at Gathering
Which May Outdo Yalta, Teheran and
Others in Barring Press
By Constantine Brovn

that the meeting of the Foreign Min
listers of the Big Four-the United
States, Great Britain, Russia and
France-will be cloaked in even deeper
secrecy than the Teheran, Yalta and
Potsdam meetings.
The fate OF one major and several
minor European nations, with a pop
ulation of some 60,0O0,0O0 people, will
be discussed by the representatives of
the Big Four. What they decided will
be "law," The subsequent peace" con-
ference will be a mere formality, at
which the interested parties will be
requested to place their signature, make
some innocuous speeches and then go
home. It will be too late to protest
against any injustices or malpractices
which may develop from the meeting of
the four Foreign Ministers, who may
strike deals between themselves in order
to save the alleged unity" between the
big powers.
Private discussions between diplomats
and statesmen are inevitable and neces-
sary. They occur in diplomacy as in
the administration of corporations,
which decide future policies before sub
mitting them to their shareholders. But
the secret discussion of vital problems,
which may effect many of the funda-
mental principles for which this country
fought is against the democratic prin-
clples OF the American people.
Viewpoints Differ Widely.
We may take it for granted that
Secretary of State Byrnes will meet
many difficulties at Paris. This he has
already indicated. publicly and pri-
vately. 1t is even probable that the
conference will prove failure because
American and British points of view
are so widely divergent from those of
the U. S. S. r.
Washington and London intend to
maintain modified status quo in Italy,
Bulgaria and Romania. Russia, how
ever, means to obtain official confirma-
ton OF her status as protector" of
the Balkans, and wishes to acquire some
OF the Italian territories in the East
ern Mediterranean and Africa. More
over she intends to force the American.
British and French governments to
surrender to her Yugoslav puppets
large part of Eastern Italy, which in
cludes Trieste and Venezia Giulia.
Thus, at the Paris conference we
shall have one group of powers-America
and Britain - discussing peace terms
without any immediate military back
ing. while Russia will talk about her
owraand her satellites rights with plenty
OF bayonets in the background. France,
which is on the brink of political up
heaval, will attempt the role of honest
broker between the two groups, but it is
probably that in the end she will lean
toward any solution proposed by the
U. S. S. R.
Iran an Object Lesson.
The nominal and ephemeral diplo-
matte victory won by the democratic
powers in regard to Iran at the Security
Council meeting in New York was
brought about principally by the fact
that most of its sessions took place in
the open and were thus subject to pub
lie scrutiny.
This was unquestionably an object
lesson for the diplomats who are called
now to draw plans for regional peace
in Europe. Hence the decision that the
only communiques to be issued by the
conferees will consist of but two lines,
mentioning the fact that the delegates
and their advisers have met and were
all in good health. There will be no
announcement of the names of those
who participate in the discussions:
Thus, If the Russian representative pulls
another Gromyko act by walking out
because he dislikes the attitude of any
OF his colleagues, there will be no pub
licity about it. And if some enterpris-
ing newspaperman gets hold of the story
and cables it he stands a good chance
of being rebuked by an official denial.
1t is at such secret conferences that
many of the fundamental principles of
the Atlantic Charter have been sacri-
feed.
After the Teheran Conference-which
was held in strict secrecy within the
well-guarded walls of the Soviet En-
bassy-the public was given a glimpse
of what happened. We were told that
the blueprint for the defeat of the
Axis had been drawn and the meeting
was exclusively military in character
1t was not until much later that it was
discovered that blueprint of the post.
war world had also been drawn, be.
cause there was danger that otherwise
Russia would withdraw from the war
1t was only after Mr.. Roosevelts death
that this was admitted by some of the
officials who attended that meeting.
Fate of Balkans Settled
1t was ir the Iranian capital that the
fate of Poland, Finland and the Bal.
kans was decided in principle" 1t was
also there that the American President
and the British Prime Minister agreed
to give Russia a large part of Italys
fleet-a decision which had to be tempo.
rarily reversed for reasons of domestic
political eXpediency.
The Yalta Conference was held under
similar conditions of extreme secrecy
No reporters were present and tn.
American and British stats which &C.
companied Mr.. Roosevelt and Mr.
Churchill kept discreetly silent afte1
their return from the Crimea. Blu
gradually some of the secret arrange
ments leaked out. For instance, it wal
revealed later that Russia was allowed
to have three votes in the United Ma
tions Organization; that the Kurile Is
| lands had been earmarked for Russis