Evening star., 1947-05-13

cannot Use mill David lawrence.
tary means against major power.
Mrs. Roosevelt wrote the other day
that she was troubled by q de-
cision Of the United Nations Military
staff Committee and was waiting
anxiously to read something further
to clarity it." She then added:
II understood it the decision) in
the following way-that the pro-
posed international police force
would be large enough and strong
enough to coerce any Of the smaller
nations which might become aggres-
siye, but would not be strong enough
to take action against one OF the
great powers.
"One might say, Of course, that
the use of the veto in the Security
Council would make it practically
impossible ever to take action
against one of the great powers.
But I have always taken it for
granted that, If the United Nations
decided that a nation had commit
ted an aggressive act, no use of the
veto could protect that nation in
wrong doing, whether that nation
was large or small"
Wrongly Understood.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Roosevelt un-
derstood wrongly and so have mil
lions OF other well-intentioned
American citizens who said after
San Francisco that q remarkable
charter had been written which
would preserve peace. The truth IS
the use Of the veto makes 1t Inn
possible to employ military forces
against one of the major powers.
The military stats have given up
the Idea Of big international police
force because 1t could never be
brought into action lawfully under
the United Nations Charter. One
vote in the Security Council by any
major power can block the use Of
such an international force.
This may come as surprise to
Mrs. Roosevelt who, as member of
the United States delegation to the
u. NJ, probably should have been
educated on this point long ago by
Senator Austin or whoever keeps
the public statements of the mem
bers OF the delegation from deviating
from actualities.
But the sad truth Is that the
u. N. can't coerce any of the large
powers-either the United States or
Russia or any other nation which
can defend itself with substantial
military forces. Maybe the United
States Senate would never have
consented to ratification of the U. N.
Charter IL 1t had in it provision
permitting the international forces
Of the q. N. to coerce the United
States: Maybe Russia wouldn't have
Joined. Anyway, the Military STAFF
Committee accepted realistically the
fact that a veto Is veto and decided
to study something In the nature Of
q small-sized police force to keep
smaller nations from making inter-
national nuisances of themselves.
This Is about all the military teeth
the U. N. Charter really permits. In
fairness to those who wrote the
document, it may be said that they
reasoned this way: If a force had
to be set up to discipline Russia or
the United States, neither nation
would agree to give up the veto that
prevents the use of such an army,
navy or air establishment. Also II
any nation used its veto against such
q force, war would ensue anyhow
and the peaceful objectives Of the
U. N. would be nullified.
What Mrs. Roosevelt may have
had in the back Of her mind, and
what many people wished for, was a
plan whereby world controversies
would be submitted to investigation
and Judgment by q majority vote OF
the Security Council and some way
would be found to require all powers
to accept such verdict. The U. N.
Charter does provide that the veto
power cannot be used by a major
power to block mere inquiry or the
publication of the findings Of an
investigating commission set up by
the Security Council. When 1t
comes, however, to compelling any
nation to accept such findings, then
the U. N. is Just paper affair and
has no power of enforcement. This
Is regrettable but 1t is true.
l-A