Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-10-20

direction the elemental forces
that are loose in the world will
turn.
West on Defensive
i This much is plain: The West
so long the dominant force in
world affairs, has now gone on
the defensive. drawing back little
by little from positions long es-
tablished in the rest of the world
particularly in Asia and Africa
4 AT the same time the Com
munist sphere has been growing,
adding to its vast empire here
and there, as it welded Com
munist theology to modern tech
nology to forge powerful
weapon for expansion.
And there is third area of
grouping-of people who have
recently won or who are strug-
Cling to win independence, to
gain control of their own futures,
to escape from poverty, to win
a place for themselves in the
sun.
| The truth is that the lines of
division are fluid and might shift
in any direction. Though we
have great influence-as much
as any other power, or more-we
can no more, alone, control the
forces at work than we can make
the seas do our bidding. For our
power, like all power, is limited
We are rich. but there are only
l68 million of us and we have
i212 billion neighbors. Our power
is necessarily in conflict with the
power of others who do not
share or only partly share our
aspirations.
The end of this conflict can
not be foreseen. nor the victor.
History knows no sure things.
But we do know that we have
not been doing well these past
few years.
We need to be called to labor,
not lulled with rosy and mis-
leading assurances that all is
well. leadership which fails in
this is leadership to disaster.
The Suez Problem
Yet a few nights ago the Re-
publican candidate sought to
make political capital out of a
crisis that could engulf the
world. Wars have begun over
matters of far less moment than
the Suez dispute-for the canal
is a lifeline of the world.
I have refrained until now
from commenting on the Suez
crisis. But 1 shall refrain no
longer. The Republican candi-
date has himself introduced it,
in a highly misleading way, into
the campaign.
A week ago he came before
that so-called press conference
on television arranged by the
advertising agents of the Repub-
lican campaign more for adula-
ton than for information. He
announced that he had good
news" about Suez.
But there is no good news
about Suez. Why didn't the
President tell us the truth?
Why hasn't he told us frankly
that what has happened in these
past few months is that the
Communist rulers Of Soviet Rus
STA have accomplished a Rus
sian ambition that the Cars
could never accomplish? Russian
power and influence have moved
into the Middle East-the oil
tank OF Europe and Asia and the
great bridge between East and
West.
When the historians write OF
our era that may. ! fear. find
grim irony in the fact that when
Russian power and influence
we're for the first time firmly
established in the Near and
Middle East-our Government
was loudly. proudly proclaimine
our victorious conduct OF the
cold war and the President re-
ported good news from Suez.
The Suez crisis and all the
laundering that has preceded Il
will probably not become an i'm
portant campaign issue. II Is too
late and We have hardly begun
70 realize It's implications. II