Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-04-02
Bargaining for Survival

Although encouraging in some re-
SpectS, the Kremlin's latest arms-control
proposals hardly warrant singing and
dancing in the streets of the Western
world. At any rate, while lending them
selves to further negotiation that could
conceivably be fruitful, they still seem to
be widely at variance with our own
country's ideas on the subject. And that
suggests that there will have to be lot
of hard give bargaining-bar-
gaining likely to extend over a long period
before any firm agreement can be
reached
AS presented by Andrea Gromyko to
the current London meeting of the United
Nations Disarmament Subcommittee
Canada, France, Britain, Russia and
the United States), the Soviet proposals
are promising in two major particulars.
The first of these is that they abandon
the Kremlin's past persistent position
that arms control must start with an
immediate and unconditional ban on
atomic hydrogen weapons-a ban that
would gravely weaken the free world Wis
avis the USSR. And the second is that
IAASJ CAlCA oNC VIC lNCd VI 1llGC1 AldVAOAAuA
inspection more specifically and more
thoroughly Though still not specifically
or thoroughly enough) than any Of
Moscow'S prior plans.
Otherwise, however, what Mr. Gro
myko has offered includes several basic
features that are obviously unacceptable
to the West at this stage. One such
feature would have the five major powers
act at once to reduce their conventional
armed forces to degree that the United
States could not safely undertake In the
present international situation. Another
feature would have the effect of demili-
tarizing and neutralizing West Germany
A third would greatly reduce the ability of
such countries as FormoSa and Japan TO
defend themselves. A fourth would put an
early end to c-hydrogen military
testing. And finally, among other weak
neSSes, the Soviet plan apparently would
require that all these and kindred meas
ures be put into force without the prior
establishment of a genuinely effective
ground-andair inspection system Of the
sort envisioned in President Eisenhowers
"open skies" proposal
The men of the Kremlin, of course,
have not rejected that proposal, but they
have certainly sidestepped it even while
paying 1t some lip service. At most,
judging from what the Soviet news
agency TasS has reported, they are will
Ing merely to examine the possibility"
OF eventually adopting the Presidents
idea, and they are willing to do the
examining only at some indefinite time
IN the future-dtter disarmament has
begun and there is more international
confidence" Yet. as Mr. Eisenhower has
repeatedly emphasized, the whole purpose
OF his open skies" project is to set up,
at the very start, the kind of mutual
warning system that would reduce the
danger of surprise attack, promote trust
among nations, and create the essential
preliminary conditions for real progress
toward limitation and control of arms
and armed forces of every kind.
If they did not evade this point. If
they did not seem to brush aside our
American contention that an advance
toward disarmament and a safer world
must begin with something very much
like the reciprocal ground and-air sur
veillance advocated by the President, the
Soviet proposals would seem much more
encouraging than they are. Still, even
as they stand, they look good deal better
than the Kremlin's past offers. and maybe
they can serve as basis for sound bar
gaining. In any event, in our atomic
hydrogen age, the bargaining effort must
go on, with view to putting an end to
major war forever. For the only alterna-
tive, ultimately, could we'll be the end
OF people-all people, everywhere.