Evening star., 1957-12-15
The Peace Of Terror

speaking III OSlO, NOEWdy, dS lIlc
1857 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize,
Lester b. Pearson has just offered some
good and timely advice to our troubled
and rather frightened world. The advice
is simply this: That the time is here
for peoples and governments on both
sides OF the Iron Curtain to get out Of
the dangerous rut they are in and engage
in an all-out diplomatic effort to head
of war of kind that could conceivably
annihilate the whole of humanity.
The rut is the arms race, incom-
parably the deadliest since the beginning
OF time. Mr. Pearson, until recently
Canadas foreign minister does not
argue, of course, against the short-run
necessity OF what the free world is doing
to safeguard itself against the Kremlin's
ever-growing military menace. But he
does make the point, and 1t is an alto
gether sound one, that this dread COM
petition, II 1t continues without letup,
can hardly fail to explode in due course
into an unprecedented catastrophe for
all its notwithstanding particu-
larly the opposing coalitions led by the
United States and the Soviet Union.
Clearly, as matters now stand, Mr..
Pearson is right when he declares that
peace remains, as the phrase goes, bal
anced uneasily on terror terror
of a situation In which the worlds
arSenalS already contain enough de-
structive power to wipe out all life on
our planet This is the terror upon which
We rely today to deter aggression. 1t is
the thing that makes us believe. or at
least hope. that the Kremlin will refrain
from unleashing war lest massive and
unmerciful retaliation be visited upon
the Soviet Union. At best, however, an
international existence based on such
ons-considerations that en-
vision mutual security as something
dependent upon mems reluctance to let
loose the indescribable horrors Of
nuclear hell-must be a parlous one.
For 1t offers absolutely no guarantee
against the possibility that somebody,
somewhere. in moment Of madness
or megalomania. will push the button
of intercontinental doom.
What then are men and nations to
w 90 0AA no AhA dS lllC
free world Is concerned, 1t is Mr.. Pear
sons judgment that our diplomacy, per-
hapS not less than that of the Kremlin.
''iS becoming as rigid and defensive as
the trench warfare Of 40 years ago, when
two sides dug in, dug deeper, and lived
in their ditches." Certainly, to quote
him further. 1T is essential that we
oVnfd ft1ic BIND ~ do etn g.
in international policy today The
main responsibility :. +. rests with the
United States and the USSR. No prog
reSS will be made II one side merely
shouts 'coexiStence sterile and mega
tive concept-and 'parleys at the sum-
NIT, while the other replies no appease-
ment;' no negotiation without proof Of
good faith"
In effect. what Mr.. Pearson calls for
is an pnbending by both sides-an
earnest, step-by-step effort, through
diplomatic and political channels. to
make progress toward the solution OF
"the tangled, frightening problems that
divide" the world today. That is TO say.
we and the Russians must become less
rigid We must not stay frozen to our
present positions. We must stop glaring
malevolently at each other, answering
missile with missile, insult with insult,
ban with ban" Instead, we must be
flexible, and we must recognize that in
human affairs 1t is ignorance of the
worst kind to be excessively self
righteous or to oversimplify great and
complex issues in terms OF black and
white.
What the world needs, in short, is
new approach to its deadlock. a new
look at the issues and the arms race
that threaten to destroy 1t. Mr.. Pear
sons counsel on that score is the counsel
OF wisdom. Regrettably, he will not be
present when the men Of NATO meet
in Paris tomorrow We venture the
hope, however, that his voice will be
heard.
AH1s AZ ~ -