Evening star., 1948-07-16
BY Yves Gallagher
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BERLIN, July 16.-Only two
courses of action have any hope of
breaking the Soviet blockade which
is strangling this city and bringing
Europe closer to war than at any
time since Munich.
The first is the use of Western
power military forces to crash the
land blockade.
| The second is retaliatory action
by the West in other parts of the
world which would make it too
costly for the Soviet Union to con-
tinue its Berlin policy.
This is the common belief of the
i Western Allies and the Germans
who have seen the Russian action at
first hand for three years. They
believe further that the Soviet
Union has KILLED international di-
plomacy in the accepted sense.
l. Rejection No Surprise.
Soviet rejection of the Western
powers notes surprised none here.
1t was expected. No one dealing
with the Russians in Berlin in the
past three years has any hope that
any note or protest would have any
effect on Soviet policy. This in
cludes any United Nation or World
Court action.
Failing to achieve what she want
ed in Germany at the conference
table, Russia has abandoned media
tion for direct pressure propaganda.
In the simplest terms 1000, ,00o
Germans and $4,000 Western Allies
in Berlin are being held as pawns
by Russia to achieve her aims in
Germany.
These aims are principally two
The first is establishment of a strong
German government on the Soviet
model dominated by the Commun-
lists.
/ The second is a Soviet voice in the
economic life of Germany, princi-
pally the industrial Ruhr.
Soviet Tests Reaction.
These have been the main de-
mands made by Foreign Minister
Molotov at every Big Four confer
ence in the past two years. They
nave been cloaked in such terms as
international control of reparations
development of "peace-loving dem
ocratic state" and similar terms. but
fundamentally they all go back to
the same two points.
The squeeze on Berlin was not
brought about by the currency re-
form or the setting up of Western
German government. 1t started
months ago when the Russians first
cut off Allied military trains.
When this was successful without
any Allied retaliation, the Russians
began imposing other controls
waiting each time to test Western
reaction.
All these took place before the
currency reform or the setting up
of a Western Germany. These last
two acts merely served as an ex-
cuse for the final squeeze.
Thus the Soviet Union has aban-
doned diplomacy for direct action
Issues Are Fundamental.
The fundamental issues must al
ways be kept in mind. They have
been obscured by diplomatic double
talk and mountains of Soviet propa-
ganda about partitioning Germany
splitting Germany, violation of the
Potsdam and Yalta agreements
currency reform and so on.
Abandoning Western currency in
Berlin wouldn't settle the issue. 1t
would merely precipitate new de-
mands.
No amount of protest notes or
United Nations action will settle
the issue, since the Russians can
not achieve their ends diplomat
ically. The new notes would be
ignored like hundreds of others in
the Allied Control Council archives
here.
The Western Allies cannot con-
tinue the air lift to Berlin forever.