Evening star., 1948-09-01
Berlin and Peace

HAASAe dPPCdiS w DC SOOO reason 10 nope
that the Berlin blockade soon will be lifted
Acting under directive from their top
level superiors, the French, British, Russian
and American military governors OF Ger
many are meeting again for the first time
| since last March. It is doubtful that they
would be doing so if their respective gov
| ernments had not reached some prelim-
mary agreement at the long and delicate
| four-poWer conversations still going on in
Moscow.
Apparently the meeting of the military
governors is being staged to clarity, at
the operating level, a number of techni-
| calitieS connected with the problem of
restoring normal traffic to and from Berlin
and establishing uniform monetary sys-
tenn there. Presumably, as soon as this
clarification is forthcoming, the conferees
in Moscow will be in better position to
draft de6nitive agreement to end the
protracted crisis in the former German
capital. According to informed reports,
the indications are that the Western
Powers will be willing to accept a single
Soviet currency if it is subjected to strict
four-poWer control and if Russia promptly
acknowledges their rights by lifting the
blockade
If such an agreement is in the making,
of course, it must be assumed that France,
Britain and the United States will insist
on making it so unequivocal and so precise
that the Soviet Union will not be able, at
some later date, to use it to it's own ad-
vantage or to violate it unilaterally by
jumping through loopholes to distort it's
meaning. Given that kind of understand
Ing and an end to the blockade, there
could be marked lessening of the grave
tension that has existed between East and
West for weeks past In the first place
with traffic barriers removed and with a
single, strictly controlled currency, Berlin
could achieve some semblance of normalcy.
Second, with our air lift no longer neces-
sary, the danger of war-breeding Russian
interference with our flights would vanish
And third, with the explosiveness of the
situation thus greatly diminished, the out
look would be brighter for a four-poWer
conference to deal with the problem of
Germany as a whole
1t would be Wlshful, however, to enter
tam great expectations regarding the i'm
mediate results of an overall German
conference. A genuine settlement for the
country will remain remote as long as the
Soviet Union holds fast to its policy of
seeking provisional government that
could be readily converted into a Com
munist puppet regime and of insisting on
a voice and veto in determining the
distribution of the Ruhr's great actual
and potential production The simple fact
is that no amount of comforting will salts
factorily solve the problem of Germany as
whole until the Kremlin, retreating sub
Stantlally from the position it has taken
up TO now, demonstrates by concrete deeds
that it does not want to make a province
of Hitler's shattered Reich and is sim
cerely anxious to build a good peace
Nevertheless, if an effective Berlin agree
ment is reached, that will be all to the
good. For it will remove dynamite-laden
center of controversy from the "cold war"
and even if it does not lead to an earlv
overall German settlement, it may pave
the way for what foreign Offices call
modus vlvendi-an arrangement under
which Russia and the West, though gravelv
at odds, will still be able to seek an under
standing without coming to blows. In
short, time will be won for the efforts of
craftsmanship to find peaceful solution.
Certainly, as long as such a solution re-
mains possible, any easing of the current
tenslon-as in Berlin-will be ground
gained in the fateful diplomatic struggle
to avert war and build an enduring system
OF worldwide collective security.