Evening star., 1953-05-24

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next month.
The Chief Executive last week
announced meeting with Prime
Minister Churchill of Great Britain
and Premier Mayer of France.
Hours after the announcement, the
Mayer government fell, leaving
open the question Of who would
represent France.
Gen. Eisenhower call for q Big
Three conference was issued, as it
were, on the spur of the moment.
He did not extend the invitation
until the day before the meeting
was announced publicly.
But it was logical and even
necessary move. The previous
weeks dissension between the
United States and Britain over a
conference with Soviet Prime Min
lister Malenkov had left the allies
wide open for a propaganda thrust
from the Kremlin. BY suggesting
a Big Five conference-including
the United States, Britain, France,
Russia and Communist China
Moscow could have rubbed salt into
the self-inflicted wounds of the
allies.
Britain would have wanted to &C
cept; America would have wanted
to decline. Public diSSension over
a well-publicized bid from Russia
would have served the Communist
cause well.
Of the Hook
But now the allies are off the
hook at least until the middle of
June. The scheduled Bermuda
conference would excuse them from
answering any Red bid. In the
meantime they could work to re-
pair their united front.
The repair job will not be an
easy one.
Britain and the United States
have much in common. Their in
terests, in the long run, are the
same. Both are convinced of the
necessity of defending the free
world from the Communist men
ace. They sometimes disagree,
however, on emphasis, on priority,
on tactics.
When the Communists were
rattling the sword, Britain and
America held together despite the
differences. But now that the Reds
are waving the olive brahch, the
differences have become serious
they threaten to hogtie Western
defense.
Problems for Bermuda
The problems that will be
thrashed out at Bermuda stem, for
the most part, from these diff
ferent attitudes:
American officials like to seek
overall solutions to cold-war prob
lens. They feel that piecemeal
settlements leave the basic Com
munist threat intact. British Of
ficials like to try for bit-by-bit
solutions They are convinced that
partial settlements are possible and
should be accepted, while overall
settlements are not now possible
and can be postponed.
Britain claims her attitude IS
based on long experience and a
mature attitude toward world
problems. John Bull has been
through all this before, it is rea-
soned, and in the past a pragmatic
approach has been successful.
American RebuttoI
Americans are inclined to be-
lieve, however, that the cold war is
something the British Empire has
not faced before. This time the
entire Western civilization is
menaced by another civilization
tough enough to destroy it. Any
settlement without broad guar
antees would be ignoring realities.
Both countries also have special
national interests and domestic
politics to influence their views.
The United States, for instance,
has a. powerful set of Congress
men, mostly Republican, who be-
heve that Asia is the key to world
peace To them it is a matter of
life or death to insist on conced-
ing nothing to Red China. Brit
ain, on the other hand, has a life
or-death interest in Europe and
little more than commercial in
terestS in the Far East.
In fact, most of the problems
the two countries will thrash out
at Bermuda stem from their diff
ferent+ attitudes toward the Far
East. What differences they have
over Europe and the Middle East
are not large enough to be trou-
bleSome during a conference with
Malenkov.
Areas of Dispute
Here are the major areas Of
dispute:
Korean Truce. America wants
to hold out for a clear-cut, favor
able settlement. Britain wants
more flexibility.
Trade With Red China. The
United States wants less trade
with the Communists. Britain