Evening star., 1949-05-05
Turning Point?

Turning Point?
The United States and the world at large
have every reason TO be heartened by the
Big Four agreement to put an end TO the
blockade and counterblockade Of Berlin
When the agreement goes into effect
now set for May 12-all powers concerned
will be able to breathe easier, and peoples
everywhere will have cause to be DIT
more hopeful about the possibility OF
eventually negotiating satisfactory gen.
eral settlement, or a workable modus
vivendi, between the Soviet Union and
the West.
In an immediate sense. obviously, the
news is good. Wholly apart from its sig
nificance as a development that will save
the United States some $500,000 daily IN
airlift expenditures, what 1t means Is that
the Big Four, after ten months of poten-
TALLY explosive day-and night tension in
Berlin, are about to remove the most
dangerous point of friction in the cold
war. 1t means, too, that they are about
to try again to find solution for the prob
lem of Germany as whole In new meet
ing of the Council of Foreign Ministers.
This, then may be turning point OF
bright promise and great historical impor-
tance in mankind's thus-far disappointing
search for an enduring peace. Our hopes
in that respect, however, must still be
hedged with qualifications. We cannot,
in prudence, say definitely that 1t is such
a turning point; we can only say that 1t
may be. Whether it actually is or not,
whether it will put the world on the
road to q genuine settlement in which
all can have confidence, is something that
has yet to be shown. Meanwhile, in view
of the Soviet Unions past record, the
Vests optimism must be cautiously
restrained.
The lifting of the blockade, after all,
will at best be merely an encouraging first
step in the right direction. BY itself. to
paraphrase Winston Churchill, 1t will mark,
at most, only the end Of the beginning
of the end of the cold war. After that,
at the Foreign Ministers new meeting,
East and West will be faced with far
more difficult task than agreeing on Berlin.
The problem before them will be the
titanic one of working out mutually
acceptable overall German settlement,
without which there can be no real peace
in Europe or anywhere else.
It is worth emphasizing, moreover, that
such a settlement will be impossible If
the Soviet Union adheres to its past pro-
posals on the future makeup of Germany
proposals calculated to give the Kremlin
ultimate dominance over the whole coun-
try. The Western Powers, Of course,
cannot and will not agree to any arrange
ments of that sort. They must insist, and
be unyielding In their insistence, on
principles and machinery providing the
greatest insurance that can be had against
the danger Of new German states even
tually forming partnership with Russia
or becoming its satellite. @@
Accordingly, If the Russians are sincerely
anxious to find fair and just solution
for the German problem, they will have
to come forward with fundamentally
revised policy. If they do, then their
ending of the Berlin blockade decision
forced upon them by Western firmness-
may in fact prove to be turning point OF
the brightest meaning, opening the way
to an eventual settlement not merely for
Europe but for the entire world, and
making possible, through such things as
control of atomic energy, lasting system
of international cooperation and collective
security.
The "ifs" involved in all this, however,
are much too big to warrant excessive
optimism. The Western world must still
be watchful. Thus, while keeping every
door open to reasonable Soviet proposals,
1t must not slacken its pace in pushing
forward with the Marshall Plan, the
Atlantic Pact and kindred projects that
have already played large role in bringing
on the present hopeful turn of events.
Heartening though the news, in short the
time is not yet here when the free nations
can afford to let down their guard.