Evening star., 1952-01-19
Yishinsky's Ominous Speech

Vishinsky's Ominous Speech
In his latest speech before the Political
Committee of the United Nations General
Assembly, Soviet Foreign Minister vishinsky has
left little room for doubt that the Korean truce
negotiations. if they do not break down entirely,
are likely to remain deadlocked for many a week
to come. There is therefore real possibility
that renewal of full-scale hostilities may be
unavoidable and not very distant-a possibility
that could lead to much bigger war involving,
among other things, heavy action against the
Manchurian sanctuary" and against Red China
proper.
Vishinsky, at any rate, certainly has thrown
dark cloud over the none-too- sunny truce out
look. Speaking for two hours in language even
more poisonous than usual he has flatly declared
that there can be mo hope for successful
conclusion" OF the talks at Panmunjom because
OF the unreasonable demands presented by the
American command Those demands" of
course, have been presented not by the American
command but by the United Nations command
which has been acting in accord with the will
OF the overwhelming U. NJ majority. As for being
unreasonable" the demands" have been put
forward solely in an effort to bring about
genuinely stable armistice by breaking the
present impasSe regarding the status of Com
lAu1A2ot d4uClUS III AOTGa anu the procedure
to be followed in exchanging prisoners.
However, as is always the case with Soviet
spokesmen, Vishinsky has not permitted the truth
to hamper his cascade of vilifying distortions
and downright lies. Moreover, as if to under
score his ominous suggestion that the deadlock
at Panmunjom is hopeless, he has lashed out
at General Van Fleet, the U. Ms ground COM
mander, as "cannibar' and killer unfit to take
part in the truce talks. Actually, General Van
Fleet, who is one of the free worlds ablest and
most honorable soldiers, has no role whatever
In those talks, but little facts like that mean
nothing to the Russian Foreign Minister when
he cuts loose-as in this instance-with vitupera-
tive propaganda aimed at beclouding issues and
obstructing any effort to promote progress toward
decent and enduring peace, the kind of peace
that the Kremlin has been blocking ever since
WI day.
As far as Korea is concerned, what vishinsky
has demanded in his newest harangue is that the
Security Council intervene in the truce talks
move that would enable the Russians to veto
the proceedings into complete paralysis and to
propagandize again for their old proposal that
both sides pull back to the 38th Parallel and that
all foreign troops be withdrawn from the country
within 80 days after the pull-back. But the
General Assembly, through its Political Commit
tee, has now emphatically rejected this idea as
one designed to give victory to the Reds. In
addition, while referring the modified Soviet
atornic-control plan to the Disarmament Com
mission, it has just as emphatically rejected
every other provision of the Kremlin's so-called
peace" program to ease international tensions
everywhere-an utterly phony program that
would require such measures as the outlawry of
the Atlantic Pact.
In the course of his tirade-which has thus
uUo11 him h1,fo Of
-Vishinsky has accused the Assemblys vast
majority of being "hypocritical" He has also
attacked numerous delegates on the ground that
they have resorted to "demagoguery" in asserting
that his government could stop the war in Korea
with one word. Well, maybe more than one word
would be required-but not much more. For it
is almost certainly true that simple declarative
sentence from the Soviet Union would be enough
to persuade the Communists at Panmunjom to
agree to an effective armistice on the reasonable
terms that have been offered them. That is why
Vishinsky's "no-hope" statement has oninous
implications; it suggests that the men of the
Kremlin may have decided to block truce
indefinitely, in which case their Chinese and
Korean puppets can be counted upon to act
accordingly. ~
Some American and other non-Soyiet dele
gates at the U. N. Paris meeting have expressed
the belief that such an Interpretation OF Vishin-
sky's speech is probably too pessimistic and that
there is still chance for an agreement at
Panmunjom. One can only hope that that
proves to be the case. Meanwhile, however it
seems fairly clear that the Kremlins present
line is calculated to do anything but speed up
the negotiations, and the longer those negotia-
tions are deadlocked the greater will grow the
danger of renewed fighting that could expand
into warfare of the gravest dimensions. It will
do our world no good to ignore that grim possi-
bility. We have got to reckon with it and be
ready to meet it when and if it materializes.
Culture in Kiev ....
Opening of new television station in Soviet
Russia the third in that country alone, demon
strates again the preoccupation with the peace