Evening star., 1948-08-04
Diplomatic Approach
To Talks in Moscow
Called Correct One
Russians Started Berlin
Blockade as Means of
Forcing Conference
By David Lawrence

The amazing thing about what
happened at the conference between
Stain and the three Western am
bassadors is not that they talked
but that they didn't talk together
long before this.
The technique is as old as diplom-
acy. 1t has been suggested time and
again. Instead of conference
under klieg lights, diplomacy has
always explored the issues through
regularly accredited ambassadors
and either with the head of a state
or his foreign secretary.
The dispatches from Moscow indi-
cate that something unusual has
happened-ambassadors have actu-
ally been talking to the head of
another government about critical
issues.
Last May when the American
Government sent a note which
opened the door to discussion, there
was a curious fumbling of the ball
here in Washington. 1t was said
that unilateral discussions would be
bad for the Allied democracies.
Nobody seems to have thought then
of the idea OF the ambassadors of
Great Britain, France and the
United States going together to the
Russian government and laying all
the cards on the table and issuing
statements until conclusions had
been reached.
Indicated Desire to Talk.
Again and again the Russians
have indicated a desire to talk with
the Western governments. Again
and again the democracies have in
dicated that there was little to talk
about or else that the Russians
couldn't be trusted or else that
there had to be a four power con-
ference if anything was to be taken
up to alter the existing situation.
The Russians evidently started
the Berlin blockade as a means of
altering the existing situation and
forcing some kind of conference.
They have succeeded. The United
States, Britain and France are in
the position now of offering some
kind of trade or concessions in ex-
change for a lifting of the blockade
"a palpably artificial issue.
Within recent weeks the situation
had reached the point where war
talk was in the air. From Berlin
there came dispatches telling OF a
plan to send in an armored train
and dare the Russians to fire on it.
All this was a sign that diplomacy
had failed. Then public opinion
began to look aSkance at the failure
of diplomacy-people wondered why
young men would have to be killed
because somewhere there was not
enough ingenuity to arrive at settle
ments in a peaceful manner.
1t is unquestionably true that
provocation by the Russians has
been considerable but any admins
tration that allowed American mill
tary forces to be bottled up in the
city of Berlin without an explicit
agreement as to the military right
to supply such forces certainly can
not have been very alert.
The Russians are admittedly diff
fcult to deal with and undoubtedly
they are materialistic to the extreme
In trying to wangle money and ma
terials out of the Western allies. But
the evidence indicates they are not
inclined to go to war about it.
Under such trying circumstances
any return to the type Of interna-
tional conferences held in London
and Paris would be a mistake.
Approach Is Correct One.
The latest approach is the cor
rect one. There is no publicity dur
ing the negotiations Neither side
issues statements to the press or to
the radio and there are not a half
hundred aides standing around and
then leaking information to the
press so that the negotiators can
not alter a position once taken.
This time precautions have been
taken to exchange views in earnest
and to make public the agreements
reached when there are agreements.
The process of reaching an agree
ment is often attended by retreats
and concessions, and publicity fire.
quently prevents successful out
come of the negotiations. Evidently
the four governments want to clear
the air and start in realistic
manner to find way to live to-
gether without going to war and
without surrendering principles that
are vital.
There need be no "appeasement"
in the Munich sense and no humili-
ating shifts in public position. But
there are ways to adjust interna-
tional questions without threaten
ing to go to war. If that formula
has just been applied at Moscow in
the critical circumstances OF today,
a milestone has indeed been reached
In world affairs.
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