Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-05-13


Nikolai Bulganin and Communist
Party Boss Nikita S. Khrushchev
to Great Britain last month there
has been an unusual amount of
planning for the future among the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
powers.
Secretary of State John Foster
Dulles announced last month that
NATO ought to extend it's activities
beyond the military field ito serve
the needs of this and coming gen.
erations."
That brought a rash of conflict
ing speculation that the NATO
countries were thinking of moving
into the political and economic
fields" But what this meant spe-
officially remained something of a
mystery.
Would the NATO Council try to
settle such outstanding issues as
Cyprus. where three NATO mem
bers. Greece, Turkey and Great
Britain, are in dispute? Would
NATO's weight be thrown behind
peace missions in the Middle East?
Would NATO perhaps try to help
France resolve its North African
difficulties, so that the French di-
visions diverted there could more
quickly be restored to the European
defense structure? Would NATO
try to administer some kind of
foreign aid program for underde-
veloped countries?
No Economic GooIs
No official would say precisely
what was in the wind. The United
States did deny, however, that any
duplication of present unified eff
fort in the European economic field
was contemplated. Even after the
meeting of the NATO Council of
Ministers, which ended in Paris last
week, the direction in which NATO
intended to extend its work re-
manned only vaguely defined.
There was reason to guess that
the ministers themselves were none
too sure. They appointed three of
their number to explore the pos
sibilitieS and report back, perhaps
early next fall.
When Secretary Dulles returned
from Paris last week end, he elabo-
rated on his own expectations. 1t
apparently is the State Department
hope that NATO:
Can be converted from a tenn
porary organization to a permanent
one. turning from almost exclusive
concentration on defense to a more
positive program of promoting
peace throughout Europe. This new
assignment might take the form,
first. of promoting unity within
NATO's present membership and,
perhaps later. of gathering other
European nations. notably Spain,
the Scandinavian non-members.
the East European countries, and
the Soviet Union, into the same
community.
Can from now on anticipate di-
viSive issues and settle them early.
before large populations acquire an
emotional interest which deprives
diplomacy of elbow room.
Can project the United States
and Canada into European affairs
on permanent basis.
This third point. not stated ex-
pllcitly. was probably the basis for
Secretary Dulles reference to the
NATO Council meeting as his
toric"A closer, longer-term associa-
ton between the United States and
Western Europe at this time could
have an import for Atlantic
munity relations almost as sweep
ing as the Monroe Doctrine de-
veloped for Western hemisphere re-
lations.
Mr.. Dulles has suggested setting
up a permanent NATO council.
sitting full time, to deal with po-
litical problems.
Secretary Dulles pointed to the
Organization of American States.
and its success with local incidents
in Latin America. as a pattern
which may find certain parallels
in NATO. The GAS, under Ameri-
can leadership. has dealt effective
ly. Mr.. Dulles recalled, with the
Communist beachhead in Guate-
mala. with Costa Rica- Nicaragua
flareupS. and with Peru-Ecuador
alterations. One of the GAS ad-
vantages. he believes, is the prompt
ness with which they can act.
1T still remains the fact that
: matters of vital Importance to the
Atlantic community are not being
given timely consideration on a
community basis" he said Tues
day in a major foreign policy
speech.
Secretary Dulles specifically en-
cluded the Middle East, Cyprus and
Algeria issues from any new NATO
initiative, however, at this time.
He said NATO would probably do
more harm than good at this late
date. He clearly intends, on the