Evening star., 1948-03-24
Time for q Showdown

Sir Alexander Cadogan's address to the
Security Council strongly suggests that the
debate over Czechoslovakia may develop
into a decisive United Nations showdown
with Russia In any event, speaking as
Britain's chief delegate to the U. NJ, Sir
Alexander-like prosecutor delivering his
opening remarks to jury-seems def
nitely to have asked for judgment
covering not merely the Czech coup but
the overall problem of the Kremlins
direct and indirect aggression throughout
the world.
Thus, in language as blunt and scathing
as any yet used by western statesman
against the Soviet Union, he has drawn
up an indictment In which the case OF
czechoslovakia is rightly described as only
one aspect Of gigantic conspiracy to
destroy independent nations and establish
Moscow's dominance on global scale. In
Sir Alexander's words, the pattern OF
action to that end has been made grimly
clear Working through traitorous Com
munist minorities and employing both
open and hidden pressures, the Russian
dictatorship has dragged nearly a dozen
uluC1cut bCl1AllS WAC IL o1l CuA toul,
and it is doing its best now to add Greece
and Italy to the list.
Accordingly, as Sir Alexander sees the
situation, the Security Council must deal
with much more than the Czech coup.
What it must deal, with is the overall
systematic program of liberty destroying
aggression directed from Moscow against
both Europe and Asia. And he makes
clear, at least by implication that If the
Council is to be paralyzed by the veto,
then the free world, If it is to remain free,
must unite on measures of its own to
dam back the tide of Red totalitarianism
without further delay, even at the risk
of war. In other words, in line with
Winston Churchill's recent suggestion, he
intimates that Britain Is In favor of bring
ing matters to head within the United
Nations at this time and of arriving at
a settlement with Russia one way or the
other.
OF course, through Andrei Gromyko and
its Ukrainian delegate, the Soviet Union
can be counted upon to keep shouting that
the Czech Communist subverSion was
democratic, that the Security Council
cannot investigate it without illegally
interfering in Czechoslovakia's domestic
affairs, and that all charges against
Moscow are baseless SANDERS invented by
"warmongers" and "imperialists" But the
nine other members of the Council, to-
gether with the overwhelming majority
of the United Nations, have indicated that
they have an entirely different view of the
situation. And they appear to be in a
| mood to launch moral offensive-a mood
in which they might deeply embarrass the
Kremlin by demanding, for instance, that
| It's Prague puppets release President Benes
to testify in New York regarding the coup
and such related matters as the suicide
OF Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk.
Beyond that, regardless of the veto, the
Security Council, If determined to bring
matters to head may be able to lift It's
voice SO powerfully against Red aggression
in general that the Russians may find II
expedient to pull in their horns. Whether
they do or not, however, the Czech issue
gives the U. N. ample reason and oppor-
tunity to challenge them either to change
their ways or become outcasts facing the
massed angered might of the free world
The evil has been with us too long. The
| time Is here for showdown with it.