Evening star., 1948-02-15

Success (nicknamed by some cynic'
Lake Flop organization-more am
bilious than that at Geneva-is nov
so wobbly that observers have be-
gun to believe it was still-born.
Started Impressively
Many European statesmen in tht
past have accused the United States
of responsibility for the demise o.
the League, contending that If WI
had joined it things would have
been different. Teeth, in the form O
military sanctions and actual inter
vention, 1t was said, could have beer
written into the covenant and thu
dictators who appeared after Work
War I could have been cowed into
submission before they became
strong enough to use force them
selves. 81
Heeding this criticism, the organ.
izers of the u. N. inserted plenty
Of teeth in the Charter. Not only
did. the U. N. Charter provide spe'
officially that military sanctions
should be applied when all othel
means of enforcing peace failed, bu
a special United Nations army wa!
provided for, with a staf drawr
from the five big permanent mem.
bers of the Security Council.
The Charter was so framed that
it's members actually surrendered
many of i their sovereign rights tt
that organization. All their activ'
ities-political, economic, militar!
and social-were to be filtered
through the various component
parts of the new peace organiza'
ton.
Hardly had the U. N. been or.
ganized before it became apparent
that unless all the big nations were
willing to play square the ambitious
program inaugurated in 1945 at Sar
Francisco would fail.
From Bad to Worse
The first blow-a minor one
came during the Russian-Iraniar
conflict when the U. s. S. r. repre-
sentatives refused to obey the
Councils injunctions and settled
their differences with the Teheran
government alone. Since the worst
fears of the non-Soviet members
that Azerbaijan Province of Iran
would be incorporated into the
U. q. s. R., did not materlallze,
every one hailed it as victory. in
fiuenced indirectly by the moral
power of the U. N. ..
The minor ailments" of the new
born u. N.-described by its parents
as inevitable growing pains-in the
last Il months have developed into
a serious illness WHICH may have
fatal results, unless some drastic
means is devised to check it. Ur
to now no one has devised such q
means.
Far from improving, matters are
going from bad to worse. Whatever
cure is discovered will not be ap.
piled. One of the U. MS parents
the U. S. S. R.-is using the veto
power to stymie modern democratic
methods.
The old League of Nations fire.
uuently was accused of being the
sounding board for the selfish in
terests of the big powers. In those
days there was still at least sem.
blance of international morality, ane
the power politics game played by
Britain, France, Italy, Germany ano
Japan at least was clothed In lie.
gality.
Greek Case Typical
The United Nations exists at 8
time when all international morality
seems to have disappeared and the
sessions at Lake Success sound more
like the vituperations of Billings.
gate fshmongers than discussions
by representatives of the great
powers.
Untruths are expressed from the
rostrum of that world peace organi.
zation without any respect for diplo-
matte language. According to some
of the members attending the hotter
sessions, If the interpreters were to
translate literally many Of the Yugo-
slav and Soviet invectives they would
be unprintable.
The stalemate has become com.
plete, except in a few cases-such
as the partition of Palestine-ir
which the Russians want, for their
own purposes, to join in settlement
of the problem
The case of Greece is typical. In
accordance with the Charter and its
articles dealing with aggression
against member nation, a com.
mission was sent to the Balkans
in 1916 to investigate the justice OF
the Greek governments complaint
against its northern neighbors.
The whole thing became a tragic
farce soon after the commission
reached the country. The Russian
and satellite delegates openly IA
vored the Greek rebels, while tn,
rest of the commission attempted
to make an impartial report.
Korea Another Example
The findings at the end Of tn,
several months of investigation
were presented to the Securit,
Council. with the Russian and hi
associates making a minority report
The whole report was inconclusive
The rebels, supported by Russia
satellites, continued their warfare
because Moscow decided to nullif,
the Investigating Committees re
port and to continue the aggression
which the Kremlin leaders expec
will bring Greece finally behind tn
iron curtain. The peace efforts o