Evening star., 1953-12-10
Berlin and Bermuda

The Anglo-French-Am reply to the
Kremlins November 26 note constitutes the
first specific development, and perhaps the
most important one, flowing from the confer
ence held in Bermuda by President Eisenhower,
British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill
and French Premier Joseph Laniel.
Drafted after consultation with the Aden-
auer government in Bonn, and borrowing some
of its language from the communique summing
up the Bermuda talks, the reply welcomes the
Malenkov regimes belated acceptance of the
Western proposal for a Big Four foreign min
listers conference on Germany and Austria.
Further, agreeing to the Soviet suggestion that
Berlin be the site, and proposing that the
meeting start there on January 4, it makes
kind of concession to the Russians by asserting
to their demand that the agenda be broad
enough to permit discussion of a possible Big
Five get-together that would include Red China.
However, despite this concession, the West
ern Big Three have indicated in their note-just
as they have in their Bermuda communique-
that they do not propose to put up with inter
minable non-germane debate at the projected
Berlin meeting. Instead, their hope" is that
the meeting will lead towards the reunification
of Germany in freedom and to the conclusion
of an Austrian state treaty" and that it will
thus contribute to the solution of other major
utterly forlorn hope but in giving voice to it
France Britain and the United States have, in
effect, served implicit advance notice that they
will not go along with any Soviet effort to con-
vert the Big -Four conference into protracted
propaganda show completely barren of the
kind of sincerity called for by President Eisen-
hover in his great and historic address to the
United Nations.
The Western note, moreover, makes clear
that enterprises like the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization and the European Defense Com
munity-regardesS of inceSsant Soviet attacks
on them-are altogether legitimate and neceS-
sary security undertakings and that Foreign
Minister Molotov will be wasting everybody's
time if he harangueS against them at the Berlin
meeting. The language of the Bermuda COM
munique is especially strong on this point. The
NATO alliance, it says, "iS and will remain
the foundation" of Anglo-French- American
policy, and France, Britain and the United
StateS-even though the Parliament in Paris has
been very reluctant to ratify the project-are
agreed that the EDO and its single Six-nation
army (including German divisions is needed
for the safety of free Europe and will be an
integral part" of it-part of the Vests whole
array of strength designed solely for defensive
purposes and never to be invoked for wrongful
violence"
The Bermuda conferees, in emphasizing all
this in their communique have also made a
special point of declaring that they shall re-
main resolute in maintaining our solidarity and
vigilance against efforts to divide U.S." To that
end after having dealt with numerous issues
ringing the globe, they "have agreed on various
measures" to- strengthen the unity of the free
world. The measures" have not been speci-
fled, but there can be little doubt, judging from
the communicates tone, that the talks have
been fruitful in terms of countering the Krem-
Inns discord-sowing campaign and fortifying
common Anglo American policy on a
host of vital problems like the edo, Germany,
Korea, Indo-China and the task of finding
peaceful means to do away with the Iron Cur
tain, end the present division of Europe and
enable the Soviet satellites to become independ-
ent again.
Coupled with what the President has said