Evening star., 1952-01-30
The Lie Fortissino

With q sudden new outburst Of energy, the
men of the Kremlin have returned to beating
the propaganda drums to give fortissimo articu-
lation to lie as hackneyed as 1t is big. The
lie is simply this That the "imperalistic" United
States and like-minded nationS-through the
Atlantic Pact and otherwise-are globally en-
circlng the Soviet Union and Its satellites In
order to lay the groundwork for launching
war Of world aggression.
Aside from what the Kremlin- controlled
press and radio have been doing with it, this
propaganda has been renewed, with special
vehemenee, by Deputy Foreign Minister Gromyko
in Moscow and by Soviet Delegate Malik at the
Paris meeting OF the United Nations General
Assembly. GromykoS part in the business has
been to deliver another set of identical notes
protesting to Turkey, France Britain and the
United States against their sponsorship Of the
"encirclng" and aggressive" Middle East Com
mand At the same time Malk, for his part,
has placed major emphasis on the charge that
our country is engaged in conspiracy to pre-
pare Chinese Nationalist troops In Southeast
Asia to undertake attack operations "at any
moment"
The latest Gromyko notes echo, in particu-
larly strident tones, the Kremlin's earlier pro-
tests that the Middle East Command is key
link In the chain of anti-Soviet "encrclement"
being forged under American leadership through
out the globe the other links including the
Atlantic Pact and the security treaties being
worked out with Japan, the Philippines, Aus
tralia and New Zealand. In reply to this, Turkey,
France, Britain and the United States undouht-
edly will repeat what they have said already
namely, that the MEG, which actually Is still
little more than paper project, is wholly
legitimate defensive enterprise and that in view
of such facts as Moscows threats against the
Turks and its well-known appetite for Iran the
four sponsoring powers cannot place undiluted
confidence in Russian assurances that that part
of the world is threatened by nobody"
As for the Malik charge-which was first
made by Red Peiping in December and which
Soviet Foreign Minister Vishinsky repeated in
Paris few weeks ago-it draws a picture OF
the United States building up big Chinese Ma
tionalist force in Southeast Asia in preparation
for aggression, under the leadership of Ameri-
can officers against Red China. The charge
which includes the accusation that we have
transported many of Generalissimo ChiangS
troops from Formosa to the mainland-soundS
somewhat plausible because there are consider
able numbers of such troops in Burma, the fact
being that they never left that country after
having fed there from YuIlnan. However, de-
spite the Soviet propaganda, we have not been
plotting with them On the contrary, our Gov
ernment has been presSuring Chang in an effort
to get action on BurmaS appeal for their dis
armament and removal.
The Russians nevertheless have been dis
torting this issue to the greatest possible extent,
lust as in the case of the Atlantic Pact, the
Pacific security treaties and the Middle East
Command. Indeed, Vishinskys recent statement
on Southeast Asia statement graphically re-
ferring to a time when events begin to take
their course on the southern borders of China"
has left the strong impression that all the
current Misrepresentation and lies have been
designed to blame us in advance for some COM
ing act of aggression that the Communists are
ready to commit out there. That is why the
United States has just joined France and Britain
in solemn warning against any such attack.
This warning would not have been uttered
If Moscow's stepped-up propaganda offensive,
taken together with the concentration OF
Peiping's armies near Indo-C China, were not sin
lister. The men Of the Kremlin, of course, are
well aware that we and our Allies are "encir-
cling" them only in the sense OF developing de-
lenses aimed at deterring aggression and pre-
venting war Why then their sudden new en-
phasis on the big lie? The thing Is SO remi-
niscent of Hitler's pre-attack technique that
the free world would be well advised to be espe-
cially on guard now against possible unpleasant
surprises.