Evening star., 1950-04-30
Dictutors Never
Known to Remoin
Stotic for Long
By Constantine Brown

siole. for the next few months un-
questionably are going to be some
Of the most trying in our history.
, President Truman, who has
wide discretionary powers in the
conduct of our foreign affairs. was
professionally" optimistic when
he said at Fort Benning, Ga, that
he did not believe we would be
plunged into another world war, so
long as the United States retains
its world leadership and strength.
At present, however, we can't
boast of either.
Secretary of State Acheson,
speaking in Washington the same
day. was more cautious and said
that "the situation is tense and
serious" but we are not yet head
ing into an armed conflict.
Military men and realistic dip
/ lomats in the West look at the
present international situation
with more misgivings. They know
more facts than the public and
believe that Russia, which has
been on a rampage since l948. has
given indications that she is tir-
ing of the cold war and is prepar-
ing to move into action.
Peaceful Means Ignored
1t is automatic that dictator
ships cannot remain static, re-
gardless of how many advantages
their avowed determination not to
resort to war might bring them.
1t is fully admitted now that if
Hitler had wished to establish
Germany's hegemony in Europe
by the mere display of his formi-
dable army and not by their ac-
tual use. he could have had the
whole of Europe at his mercy.
Napoleon, likewise, could have
made his will prevail by non-vio-
lent means, but dictators who
base their power on huge standing
armed forces do not relish peace
full means for the accomplishment
of their purposes.
The case of Stain and his
Kremlin clique is even worse than
his predecessors. Having been
saved from utter destruction at
the hands of his rival-Hitler-by
Western military aid, he turned to
bite the hand that had succored
him and his country.
In violation of formal pledges
given his Allies at a time when
the U. S. S. r. was the worlds
black sheep, he intrigued in coun-
tries which were far removed from
Russia's territory and used his
powerful fifth column to create a
state of chaos.
We fought Stain not with arms,
but with kindness. We indorsed
his conquest of Hungary, Poland
Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Ro-
mania. We did not presume to
match his intrigues in China and
let that country with $50 million
people fall prey to his thirst for
power.
Defense Is Limited
The only real opposition we
have offered to Stalin's offensive
was to help Western Europe avoid
economic collapse, which would
have brought with it the creation
of Communist regimes in the
Western countries. Later last
year we decided to provide those
peoples with enough equipment
over period of five years for
them to organize a potential de-
fense force. But it must be borne
in mind that even if our plan is
fully successful, the forces avail
able in Western Europe still will
not be big enough to resist a
Red onslaught for more than a
limited time.
Saber-rattling does not seem,
however. to be enough for the
Red dictator and his henchmen.
A couple of years ago it was said
that there were two parties in
the Communist directorate: One
favoring immediate military &C
ton while America and her as
sociates in Europe were still mill
tarily unprepared and the other
advocating war of nerves and
attrition against the United
States.
! The latter group believed that
even the rich United States could
not meet the commitments it had
undertaken on global scale and
that the inevitable" economic
breakdown of our system would
make a shooting war unnecessary
for the Soviets. If the reports
about the two parties are true,
it seems now that the war party
has the upper hand.
Story of the Missing Plane
The first gun in the Soviet's
spring campaign-which might
lead to a shooting war, at least
in Europe-was fired April 8 when
an unarmed United States Navy
plane was shot down by Soviet
| fighters. We knew exactly what
happened the day the plane was
brought down. but we had no
legal" proof to link the Soviet
government with that crime.
Soviet Foreign Minister Vishin-
sky wanted to take further advan-
tage of that crime, which was COM
mitted, we are convinced, on or
ders from the Kremlin. He pro-
tested against the invasion" of
Soviet territory by a fully armed
American Plying Fortress" and
Moscow sent Washington a strong
note about it. 1t was answered in
kind.
The incident unquestionably
was a Russian provocation to test