Evening star., 1947-05-11

Russians Undercut
World Police Plan
Aim at Promoting National Instead
Of International Objectives
By George Fielding Eliot
The heart Of the Military star Conn
mittees first report to the United Ma
tions Security Council IS found in ar
ticle 10:
TN view Of the military advantages
which would accrue, the employment
Of the armed forces under article A
Of the Charter should, whenever pos
sible, be initiated in time to forestall or
to suppress promptly breach Of the
peace or an act Of aggression"
Here we have soldiers in their proper
relations to statesmen: Soldiers giving
military advice based on the ancient,
timeless principles of their trade-mo-
bility, surprise, offensive action-get
there first with the most-above all, get
there in time.
Moreover, the soldiers are speaking,
not In terms of war, but In terms of
police action, which Is not destructive
but preventive. "Forestan or suppress
promptly ly'--that means mobile force,
Immediately ready for any emergency
however sudden, and wherever located.
It takes into account the fact that
breach of the peace" which could be
dealt with on Monday by the prompt
arrival Of, say, a battalion of air-borne
infantry at crucial spot might by
Saturday have attained such proportions
that 1t could not be put down with a
couple Of divisions.
But If Article 10 may be called the
heart Of the report, it is alas, heart
which beats, If it beats at all, in par
alyzed body
For the USSR which possesses no
mobile force has seen to it that the use
OF mobile force by the powers which do
possess 1t, the United States and Great
Britain, is to be carefully and syste-
matically restricted to the point Of i'm
potence.
AL through Chapter w ("contribu-
ton Of armed forces by member Ma
tions') The Russians have insisted on
the principle of equality regarding the
overall strength and the composition Of
these forces" Two examples will make
clear how this would work: 1t is very
easily possible-indee quite Hkely-that
carrier-borne aviation might be the best,
cheapest and quickest means of dealing
with given breach Of the peace. But
since neither the Soviet Union nor
China has any aircraft carriers and since
France has only one modern one tand
that one borroweO 1t is hard to see how
any carriers could be included in the
earmarked contingents to be at the dis
posal of the Security Council. Again, let
us take the case of the discovery Of an
atomic-bomb plant being constructed by
Fascist plotters in some hidden fastness
in Central Africa or Central Asia or
Central South America. Obviously the
destruction OF the plant by long-range
aviation would be indicated and at once.
Yet the Security Council could not have
any long-range bombing squadrons in its
earmarked contingents. France and
China have none. Russia has few If any.
X X
Another interesting but paralyzing
Russian ''joker" is found in the Soviet
version Of articles 80 and 80, dealing
with the general location of the armed
forces at the disposal of the Security
Council. The four other powers want
these forces so distributed geograph-
tcally as to enable the Security Council
to take prompt action in any part of
the world" This supports, Of course,
the basic idea set forth in article 10.
forces made available to the Security
Council by member nations of the
United Nations shall be garrisoned
within the frontiers of the contributing
member nations own territories or ter
rttorial waters" an exception being
made for forces of occupation In ex-
enemy states. This would rule out the
use by the Security Council of, for
example, the q. s. Mediterranean fleet
even though that might be the most
Immediately available force to deal with
q sudden fare-up of trouble. Indeed,
the adoption Of this principle would
raise the question of our right to main-
tain Mediterranean feet at all, while
in no way impairing the right OF Russia
to maintain armies of occupation in
certain Balkan countries. In any case,
the idea of prompt preventive action
would be partially or wholly negatived
by the factor Of distance-the cops
would have to stay in the police station
until the riot had actually started. They
could not patrol the streets.
AS for bases, facilities, rights Of pas
sage, and the like, to be extended to
forces under the orders of the Security
Council by member nations, the Ameri-
cans, British and Chinese want a gen.
eral guarantee of the right of passage
and use Of bases, to be supplemented by
agreement in advance on specific de-
tails. The French want some modifica-
tion of this principle. But the Russians
demand not only specific agreement in
advance, with no general guarantee:
they join the French in requiring
special agreement "at the appropriate
time" fixing the duration and other
conditions involved in the exercise Of
the rights thus extended" so that, In
case it became necessary to use Rus
sian base, the Security Council would
have to negotiate a special agreement
with the Soviet government after the
breach Of the peace had occurred and
acfinr had heer1 decided On in which not