Evening star., 1953-12-14
The NATO Meetino

Secretary of State Dulles has effectively
summed up the main purpose of the current
three-day Paris meeting of the North Atlantic
Council. The purpose is simply this: To review
past progress and plan ahead" in order to main
tain and develop the power of the NATO ali-
ance ito defend against and strike back against
any aggressor.'
To that end, the Council-which is NATOS
top policy agency made up of the Foreign,
Defense and Finance ministers of the IA men,
ber nations-will deal with number of prob
lens directly and indirectly affecting the
security of free Europe and the Atlantic Com
munity as whole. These problems are POLITICAL
economic and military and some of them
overlapping each other-are exceedingly COM
pleX. But they are all manageable and soluble,
and there is little reason to doubt that the
Paris meeting will handle them constructivey
Apart from strictly military consider
ations-particularly the need to build up
NATO's air strength-the most important single
issue facing the North Atlantic Council is the
question of how and when the European De-
fense Community is to be brought into being.
France, although the initiator of the EDO
project has been extremely reluctant to ratify
the treaty that would make it working reality
The Parliament in Paris, reflecting important
segments of French public opinion, has deferred
action on it because of widespread fear that
the enterprise would create a single
Six-nation army, including divisions from West
Germany-might encourage rebirth of Ger
man militariSm and aggression Having this
danger in mind, Premier Laniel's government,
like its predecessors, apparently wants special
protective Anglo American guarantees, but both
Britain and our own country seem diSinclined
to add TO their present European commitments
because of belief that those commitments are
strong enough, and enduring enough, as they
stand.
In any case, however, regardless of EDC's
uncertain status there can be no question about
the deSirability of continuing to nouriSh the
power of the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza
ton, within whose framework the international
ized European army would be organized For
within that framework, even without the pro-
posed Six-nation military set up-a great deal
has already been done to bulwark Western
security, and much more can be done, and has
to be done, along the same line. In Mr.. Dulles
words, "NATO started with small forces. Now
it is strong. But its strength needs to be main
tanned and developed"
This is another way of saying that NATO,
even though there may be continuing delays
in effectuating the EDO plan, can keep on
building up its strength to point where the
men of the Kremlin would be foolhardy to chal-
lenge it with an act of aggression Certainly,
given these circumstances, it does not seem
wiShful to assume that the North Atlantic
Council, when it finishes its present business
in Paris, will have succeeded in further insur-
ing the safety of the West and the free world
as a whole.
survey indicates that American homes
have about as many pets as children, but seem
n ha li,ooif Tod Ra 0ofc md Ccr1 1nffo
really interesting in statistics could be worked
up by including those families with one boy,
SO tadpoles Tin season., two lizards, five turtles,
three hamsters and garter snake.
p. G. wodehouse, the British humorist,
describes American television as "the foulest,
ghastliest loathsomeSt nightmare ever inflicted
on suffering human race" If he can work
Ia asxal-~