Evening star., 1953-03-16
Another U.N. Deadlock

The Soviet Unions veto of Lester B. Pear
son, Canada's Minister for External Affairs,
as next Secretary General of the United Nations
forecasts another of the familiar but unpleasant
controversies with the Communist bloc in the
U. N.
Mr.. Pearson the second candidate to be
considered for the Councils recommendation,
received nine supporting votes Seven are
necessary for the affirmative action which is
required to place nomination before the
General Assembly. BY exercising its veto for
the 56th time in the Councils history, the
Soviet Union blocked the recommendation and
there is no reason to believe cooling off"
period of several days will result in changing
the Russian position. Actually, Soviet antag-
onism toward Mr.. Pearson for the Secretary
GeneralShip was indicated as long ago as 1946
when the Russians let it be known they would
veto his nomination because of their preference
for Trygve Lie. Since 1850, they have been
Scornfully antagoniStic toward Mr.. Lie
In the face of the present impasse the
Council has asked the five major member
powerS-United States, Britain, France, Russia
and Climatic hold consultations with the
objective of reaching an agreement for Council
consideration on Thursday. There are several
possible results, beyond the rather slim chance
of agreement on Mr.. Pearson.
One is that the American first choice,
Philippine Ambassador Romulo, might be
accepted The prospects for this solution are
not bright, however, in view of the fact that
Ambassador Romulo received only five votes
in balloting that preceded that on Mr.. Pearson.
Although the voting is secret, it was reported
that Soviet Russia and France were the two
powers casting ballots against the Philippine
candidate. Even if seven votes are lined up
thn nf
Soviet veto remains.
second possibility is that Mr.. Lies term,
extended to February 1854, when similar
Russian obstruction prevented the naming of
his successor in 1851, may be extended further
by vote of the General Assembly. Mr.. Lie sub
mitted his resignation last November, however,
largely because of the "crudest form of pressure"
being directed against him by the Soviets, and
it is not known whether he would agree to
remain longer under such conditions.
The third alternative is that compromise
candidate, who would be acceptable to both
the Communist and non-Communist powers,
might be found. There is speculation already
that the RuSsians-who have been wooing the
Indians more vigorously than ever in recent
months-might propose Madame Pandit, for
mer Indian Ambassador to the United States
Madame Pandit is now attending the U. NJ
sessions and she has indicated she would accept
nomination as Secretary General. It has not
been indicated, however, what the reaction of
the United States and other major powers
would be to this alternative.
The post of Secretary General is an inf1u-
entail one, not only through its control of the
secretariat, but in the power to bring before
the Security Council any matter which in the
opinion of the official threatens the mainte-
nance of international peace and security. It
was because Mr.. Lie sided with the West in
considering the North Korean aggression such
threat that the Communist bloc turned
against him. 1t is quite certain that the Western
powers would not agree upon any Secretary
General who they had reason to believe
would not place proper evaluation upon the
aggressive behavior of Communist Russia and
It's satellites.