Evening star., 1955-10-23

senhower's recent disarmament
note with polite get wen" letter.
but nothing concrete on proposals
to end the arms race was offered.
Perhaps the variations In hope
fulness among world statesmen
could be explained by variations In
contexts. In the context Of how
far the world had come since the
Big Four heads Of state first sat
down together last July, there has
been gratifying progress. In the
context Of how far the world has
yet to 60 to achieve q stable peace,
there is understandably more rea-
son for reserve.
Looking back, the greatest
achievement Of Eisenhower, Bull
ganin. Eden and Faure at Geneva
was the removal Of the immediate
military threat Of global annihila-
ton that had kept world nerves
ajangle in the first postwar dec
ade.
Looking forward. however, none
Of the political issues between East
and West have been removed. II is
these that the approaching follow
up conference confronts.
Freed sat Geneva of the strait
Jacket Of atom-age fear. both sides
have increased their fields for ma
sneuver since last July.
The Soviet bloc. monolithic still,
has used this advantage over the
many-voiced. slow-moving democ-
racies with skill. Since the summit
conference adjourned, Moscow has
built new bargaining position for
Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molo-
tov to use In Geneva this week. He
can ask the West to match the
recent Soviet decisions to evacuate
the military base in Finland, and
to cut its armed forces by 100000.
A New chonnel
Opening Of direct diplomatic
relations with West Germany has
given the Kremlin q new channel
to cirelrayent amy deadlock on Ger
man unification or European Sc
curity that may develop. Wooing
Of the Arabs In the Middle East
with guns and rubles has put the
West on notice that the new Krem-
lin has Q fiexibfIity Stain never
dreamed Of
The indiyidualistic West. mean
while. has had to struggle since
last July to avoid disunity. NATo
allies quarreled over Cyprus, en-
dangering free Europe's southeast
ern flank. Egypt and Israel had
q new falling out that threatened
unrest IN the oil-rich Middle East.
France Wrestled with big trouble in
North Africa. The whole complex
Of agreements under which West
Germany was brought into the
North Atlantic alliance now Is sud-
denly endangered BY today's ref
erendum In the Saar.
Secretary Of State John Foster
Dulles and his colleagues from
Britain and France thus have more
than the usual amount Of co-orci-
mating work ahead of them. MIR.
Dulles aim last week was to line UP
his own country behind his policies.
He seems to have succeeded ad-
mirably.
Eisenhowers Blessing
President Eisenhower gave his
blessing from his Denver sick bed.
Congressional leaders, Democratic
and Republican, also gave him their
fun support.
The first item on the Geneva
agenda, German unification and
European security. gave little prom
ise Of achieving accord with the
Soviet Union. But Mr.. Dulles dog
gedly hoped for the, best.
II believe" he said, "that the
various proposals which viii be put
forward on both sides win bring US
nearer together and that they will
advance and not retard the unifi-
cation Of Germany"
Disarmament. second on the
agenda. vas openly downgraded by
Soviet q. N. Delegate Arkady Sobo-
lev In New York last Friday. when
he tried to arrange 60-nation dis
cussions Of the subject while the
Geneva talks were in progress. It
looked as II the Kremlin might be
trying to duck the consequences of
rejecting President Eisenhower's
fortnight "open sky" inspection
plan by throwing up Tower-of-
Babel smoke screen in New York
When the U. N. refused to discuss
1t, there was speculation that Mos
COW would find some other method
Of backing away from President
Eisenhower's acid test.
Greatest Promise
The third item on the agenda, in
creasing contacts between East and
West. offered the greatest promise.
in the opinion of American diplo-
mats. This view was not fully
shared, however. by Senator Walter
r. George. Democratic foreign pol
icy dean. He publicly doubted
whether the conference would ever
get to Item No. 3 II no progress
were made on German unification
and European security.
Nevertheless. Senator George still
believed that the coming Big -Four
meeting may "be the greatest OPP
portunity we will have in this
century to really do, something for
the stability Of the world If we
have the wisdom to grasp It,"
Looking to what new issues can
be resolved. this sounds like an
overstatement Of the case. But re-
membering that the gains Of this
summer could easily be lost II the
foreign ministers fell back into o
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