Evening star., 1946-07-17
Blunt Allied Words
Effective in Moscow
Squeeze Play Being Applied
And Russians Don't Like 1t
Bp David Laurence.

By David Lavrence.
One thing stands out in all the COM
ments made by Secretary of State
Byrnes and Senator Vandenberg with
respect to relations with Russia, and
that is tendency to speak frankly,
bluntly and even harshly of the So
viets' behavior in international affairs.
The Moscow spokesmen. on their part.
do not mince words either. The debate
is unprecedented for its studied effort
at restraint coupled with outspoken
characterization.
When Secretary Byrnes. for instance,
says quite casually that it is most diff
cult to get any agreements except after
long -dSawn-out debates and wrangling
conferences, it is evident that he is ex-
pressing, in terms not customary in
diplomacy, an obstacle which now has
become quite aggravating. The words
used could not have been accidentally
chosen but rather appear to be delib-
crate.
Meaningful Words.
He says;
Perhaps the time taken in discus
sion was not wholly lost, because our
experience suggests that understand
ings, particularly with our Soviet
friends, cannot be reached until We
have gone through rounds of verbal
combat, in which old complaints are
repeated, past positions reaffrmed diff
ferences accentuated and crises pro-
voked.
II am ready to believe it is difficult
for them (the Russians to understand
U.s. just as it is difficult for us to un-
derstand them. But I sometimes think
our Soviet friends fear We would think
them weak and soft If they agreed
without struggle on anything we
wanted, even though they wanted it,
too. Constant struggle, however, is not
always helpful in a world longing for
peace"
Those two paragraphs are more
meaningful than the narrative of what
happened at the Paris Conference or
the discussion of the broad diplomatic
questions with which the conference
dealt. For, obviously, the United States
gets along with and understands the
comments and speeches Of all the states
men of the other nations of the world
They, on their part, understand our
language. but the Soviets have an ap-
proach all their own which-to use a
word employed once by a high British
official in private conversation-is "baf-
fling"
Let World Be Judge
But 1t begins to look as If the other
principals at Paris and particularly the
members of the American delegation
refuse to be baffled any longer and are
prepared to let the world be the judge
OF the reasons for the eccentricity and
bizarre tactics of the Russians.
One explanation advanced recently
is that Soviet policy is not made by Mr..
Molotov at Paris but by a group of men
in Moscow-the military leaders. What
the world is witnessing is the formation
of victorious nations policies by a
group of military men who are as much
an influence IN world affairs today as,
if not more so than, the German gen.
There appears no other plausible
analysis Of why the Russian spokesmen
make vehement declarations one DAY
and reverse themselves the next or why
they take positions opposite to Great
Britain and the United States no matter
what these happen to be. Thus Mr
Molotov on frequent occasions has ac-
PiIcn1 tho danoNrro1ioS of +rx74 30
petuate Gernany's war potential. Now
he argues that Russia alone is anxious
to keep Germany from dismemberment.
Squeeze Play"
The truth Of the matter Is that the
Allies have been applying q squeeze
play" and Russia doesn't like it, Failing
to persuade Molotov to agree to consider
Germany as single economic unit so
that Britain and America would no
longer be compelled to subsidize the
separate German economic zones with
taxpayers money, the United States and
Britain began to plan an economic con-
solidation of two or possibly three of
| the zones.
This is a language Russia understood
and it promptly caused turnabout In
her obstructionist tactics. Now Russia
! through Molotov, says she is all for q
| central economic control and is the
! friend of Germany.
Such contradictions may truly have
been intended to be battling but the
| statesmen of Britain and America In
tend to expose all these peculiar ma
| neuvers to the whole world. Likewise,
nobody takes seriously any more the
TRADES against Allied statesmen gener-
ated through a controlled press in
| Moscow.
Russias military oligarchy apparently
influences to large extent what Stain
and Molotov say: hence, compromises
In Paris reflect compromises inside
Moscow.
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