Evening star., 1952-10-14
Russia and the Assembly

regular session, the United Nations General
Assembly will convene in brand-new meeting
hall of vast proportions. But the outstanding
issues to be weighed and debated there, which
also are things of vast proportions, will be the old
ones that have been endangering the peace of
the world for long time past, and the unfor-
tunate fact is that there is little or no likelihood
of settling any of them by agreement in the
weeks Immediately ahead. Instead, judging from
present indications, the best that can be hoped
for-and perhaps it is hoping for too much-is
that they will not become worse than they are
already
The biggest of these issues, of course, is the
war in Korea. The suspension of negotiations
at Panmunjom, coupled with the mystifying
assault operations recently undertaken by the
Chinese Communists, has made the outlook for
near-future truce seem dim almost to the point
OF hopelessnesS Accordingly, with Secretary of
State Acheson taking the lead, our American
delegation is expected to address the 6O-nation
Assembly in strong terms in an effort to rally
the overwhelming majority into exerting addi-
tional moral and legal pressure against the
enemy-pressure aimed at putting him on the
defensive and persuading him to break the
present grim deadlock by retreating from his
inhumane demand for the forced repatriation
of scores of thousands of Red prisoners
But the Kremlin, in preparation for this and
other things, has sent an exceptionally high
powered delegation to the Assembly. Headed by
Foreign Minister Vshinsky, it is a delegation
that can be counted upon to make the new
meeting hall reverberate with thunderous propa-
ganda-at times threatening, at times full Of
blandshmentS but always with the objective
In view of poisoning the international atmos-
phere and driving wedges of distrust and dissen-
sion between the United States and the rest
Of the free World Ir, he ocfo HOY
the completely unexpected, barring the remote
possibility that the Pyongyang- -Peiping- Moscow
axis may surprise everybody by suddenly back
ing away from its past position at Panmunjom,
the Korean issue may well become more infamed
than ever In the course of the impending U. N.
debate.
BY the same token, it seems utterly guileless
to expect the Soviet delegation to deal con-
structively with the numerous other issues sched-
uled to be brought up at this session of the
Assembly. Atomic control, general disarmament,
EastWest trade restrictions, the Austrian state
treaty, the admission of new members into the
U. NJ. the Arab-Asian complaint against the
French in Tunisa and Morocco-these are some
of the questions that Mr.. Vishinsky and his
hardened associates will exploit to the full Ger
tainly, unless the Kremlin is planning to astonsh
the world with a conciliatory policy, its minions
in New York will not cooperate with the ma
jority in searching for answers to such questions.
Instead, as usual, they will cut loose with bar
RACES of lieS vilifcation, fraudulent 'peace" pro-
posals and similar propaganda devices designed
to befuddle and divide the free nations.
Given this prospect, the General Assembly
may seem to have an air of futility about it.
Appearances to one side, however, it has moral
and legal strength of kind that ought not to
be underestimated. Cynics may scof at it, but
the men of the Kremlin take it at least seriously
enough to honor it, with the presence of their
ablest representatives. After all, if the over
whelming majority of its members holds fast
together in passing judgment on the grave issues
of our time, the Soviet dictatorship cannot afford
to laugh the matter off. No nation, in fact, can
afford such laughter, and that is why the AS
semby, even though it has been powerless thus
far to solve the problems before it, is potent
factor in the effort to restrain aggression. In
that sense, if it does no more than continue
to keep present tensions from exploding into
gobal war, peoples everywhere will have reason
to rejoice in its existence.