Evening star., 1950-02-24
The Next Move Is Up to Them

In his Washingtors birthday address, Presi
dent Truman said things that should be taken
to heart by all those who have been clamoring
for various kinds of American action c'fresh
starts new approaches" special missions" and
spectacular gestures of one sort or another) to
get the Soviet Union to cooperate in controlling
atomic weapons and establishing good and last
ing peace.
The President has answered this clamor with
eloquent and calm common sense Restatlng the
main obiectives of our foreign policy, he has
emphasized that the United States is as dedl-
Gated as ever to the task of organizing genuine
system of collective security in which all nations
will enjoy the rights of Sef-government and
have an opportunity to move forward toward
economic betterment and expanded freedom.
But he has made clear at the same time that
progress to that end is likely to be very slow and
that people are merely deludng themselves when
they wishfully suppose that the problems involved
will lend themselves to quick and easy solutions
If only he and Secretary Acheson dip into their
hats and pull out some kind of diplomatic rabbit.
Actually, the international situation is not
what it is because of a failure on the part OF
the United States and other free nations to take
the initiative in seeking cooperation. 1t is what
1t Is because of a deliberate and systematic pro-
gram on the part of the Soviet Union to boycott
and sabotage the effort to establish a decent
peace. Nearly all the members of the United
Nations-all but those behind the Iron Curtain
have amply demonstrated their eagerneSs and
their readiness to organize universal collective
security in keeping with the principles of the
Charter. But the Russians, with their cowed
satellites whipped into line behind them, stead
fastly have blocked every major move in that
direction. And they have done So as the Presi-
dent has said, because they have been committed
ever since the end of the war to a policy of
aggressive communism that is really armed
imperialism bent on making the Kremlin the
master of as much of the world possible
In these circumstances, long the Rus
SLAMS find such policy profitable to themselves,
1t is ridiculous to imagine that fresh appeals for
cooperation will persuade them to switch to
something else. That is why the United States
and number of like minded nations, as
matter of self-preservation, have found it neces-
sary to work together in such projects the
Marshall Plan, the Atlantic Pact and the Mill
tary Assistance Program. But we are not frozen
into that mold. AS the President has said, we
are still striving for agreement, we have not
stopped looking for ways to reach it, we are
keeping the door wide open that anybody can
walk in who Is sincerely seeking a general peace
settlement.
Thus, in the field of atomic control-which
is central to the over-all problem of peace-We
are as anxious as ever to negotiate, within the
United Nations, for an understanding with the
Krenn We do not insist on our own plan. All
we insist upon is that any substitute for it must
be at least as effective. Up to now the Russians
have offered no such substitute. The whole idea
clashes with their policy of armed imperialism,
and as long as they adhere to that, futtery new
appeals from us are likely to do little more than
make them snicker. 1t is up to them to make
the fresh start.