Evening star., 1947-09-20
Why There Is War Talk

why mere Is war ok
In his violent address to the General AS
sembly, Deputy Foreign Minister vishinsky
of Russia gave voice to an extraordi-
nary volume of colossal Misrepresentation
scarcely distinguishable from downright
lies. He did say one thing, however, that
is true-namely, that there Is great deal
Of talk in America about the possibility
Of war with his country.
Stated in just that way, the fact cannot
honestly be denied. But Mr.. Vishinsky
has not stated it in just that way Instead,
he has sought to implant the idea that
the talk reflects a kind of satanic con-
spiracy on the part Of the United States
to precipitate an armed conflict with the
Soviet Union for the purpose of achieving
capiualistic domination of the world.
Celebrating upon this fantastic thesis
in the widest manner, he has completely
distorted the true nature of the situation,
conveniently ignored the root cause of it,
and called upon the United Nations to
inform all vernments-particularly our
own-that they will be committing a
criminal offense if they fail to prohibit,
prevent and suppress war propaganda in
any form"
In other words, Mr.. Vishinsky wants to
stop the American people and the Amer
ican press from thinking out loud about
military security and the balance of
power in dangerous world. He wants the
U. N. to tell us that we must repeal the
First Amendment to our Constitution and
substitute censorship methods comparable
to those of the Russian police state His
proposal, of course, is so obviously ridic
ulous that its rejection is foregone con-
clusion, and he probably is we'll aware
of that fact. He is an intelligent and
Sardonic man. Presumably he has ad
vocated this measure primarily for propa-
ganda purposes-to throw a smokescreen
over the real reason why there is so much
anti-Soviet war talk in so many lands,
especially in America.
The real reason is not that the American
people or the American press or the Amer
ican government have the slightest desire
to fight Russia. The real reason is that
Russia, more than two years after We Day
and VI Day, has yet to offer concrete
evidence that 1t has any genuine intention
of cooperating with the rest of the world
to establish good peace. On the contrary,
it has persistently blocked every major
move to that end. Thus, Cd in violation
of it's Yalta pledges and the basic prin-
ciples of the United Nations, it has actively
connived in building new tyranny in the
lands behind the Iron Curtain. (2) Against
the will of the majority, it has stymied
all progress toward drafting settlements
for Austria, Germany. Korea and Japan.
60 Again against the will of the majority,
it has repeatedly vetoed efforts to pacify
the Balkans and save Greece. "a SINH
larly, despite the fact that every member
of the Atomic Energy Commission except
itself and obedient Poland wants to adopt
the essentials of the American plan, it has
stubbornly rejected effective control of
the atom. And 60 it has fatty turned
down the Marshall proposal for European
wide recovery, forbidding its satellites to
have anything to do with it and thus
splitting the continent economically in
two.
This is merely part of the record, but
it is enough to explain why there is talk
of war. 1t is enough to leave Russia wide
open to the charge that it is deliberately
intent on promoting chaos to help the
spread. of Red totalitarianism. 1t is
enough, In short, to indicate that Soviet
policy to date has been aimed not at CO.
operating with the overwhelming ma jority
of mankind but at foiling the will of that
majority unless every one agrees to the
80
by the Kremlin. This, primarily, is what
has reduced the United Nations to state
of paralysis. Mr.. Vishinsky can distort
the truth endleSSly, and he can meanly
impugn the motives of honest men until
he Is blue in the face, but, there is not
an informed person anywhere who does
not already know where the chief blame
rests for the worlds present sense of fear
and Illustration.
That blame will be clear and immense
until Russia and its vishinskys put an
end to their hateful and dishonest propa-
ganda and shift to policy of sincere give
and-take for decent peace. Unless and
until they do that, there will be no true
security in the United Nations, and the
awful possibility Of An atomic war-not in
ten years perhaps, but maybe in twenty
or thirty-will be very real. In the cir
cumstances, If the situation keeps on drift
ing as now, the Kremlin can be certain
that not even its shrillest TRADES will deter
America from talking about the danger
Of armed conflict and preparing fully to
meet it. self-preservation is still the first
law of nature.