Evening star., 1957-12-09
No More Rabbits

IL Is reported tnat secretary Dulles
has searched, without success, for some
bold new political idea, some fresh dra-
matte concept, which could be used to
revitalize the deteriorating NATO alli-
ance. II this iS'true, and we suspect that
1t Is. don't blame Mr.. Dulles. He Is not
q magician. And furthermore there are
no rabbits left In the NATO hat.
AS Is the case with nearly all alli-
anceS. NATO was forged out Of COM
mon need-the need Of the Western ma
tionS to stand together against the fear
Of Communist armed aggression. As
long as this fear was lively thing NATO
held together fairly well. Some prog
ress. though never enough. was made
IN organizing common defense against
the dreaded day when the Red armies
might march against western Europe.
But this apprehension has gradually
receded. There are not many people
left who greatly fear that Russia viii
resort to overt aggression against the
West.
And as the cement Of fear has dis
solved, the military alliance has tended
to disintegrate. At the same time. mar
row considerations Of real or fancied
national interest, submerged In the face
Of what was thought TO De q common
danger. have begun to reassert them
selves. Thus, we find French Premier.
embittered by Anglo-American arms
shipments to Tunisia, asking how one
can fail to suppose that all Europe
might drift into the idea Of neutrality
which would profoundly divide the Free
World and in particular weaken the
United States"
This warning, or threat, rejecting q
French concern for q national as dis
tinguiShed from a community interest,
Is not to be brushed aside as an isolated
incident. In one form or another. In
greater or lesser degree, our other NATO
partners, and perhaps we, too. are feel
ing the pressure Of national interests
which run counter to the concept Of q
one-for-all and all-for-one alliance.
So Mr.. Dulles, If the reports are true,
has been cropping for some bright new
idea-political, economic or whatnot-
which could be called upon to pinch hit
for the fear of Russian aggression which
initially made NATO possible. But he
has not found 1t, and we do not think he
will find it. II this is correct, the Ameri-
can people should not expect much OF
anything to emerge from next weeks
NATO meeting in Paris. NATO, Of
course, is not going to collapse like the
one-hoss shay. It will run for while
longer. But we know Of no reason to
suppose that 1t is going to emerge from
the Paris meeting transformed into a
powered thing Of beauty, with tail
fins and power steering. that win delight
the eye and thrill the heart Of the NATO
family.
II this proves to be the case, where
will it leave the United States? What
follows II Premier Gaillard was right
when he suggested that all Europe may
drift into a neutrality which would di-
vide the Free World and particularly
weaken the United States?
A possible answer, we think, may be
found in Pravda article published sew
eral days ago. In this inspired piece
the Kremlin renewed suggestion which
has been made before-that the United
States sit down with Russia and try to
reach some agreement which would
liquidate the cold war and resolve the
West deadlock.
Just as we do not expect NATo to
fall apart next week, neither do we
think that Pravda's feeler will bear fruit
tomorrow. But there are forces at work
In this world, including the cracks that
are spreading in the NATo structure and
the prospective rise Of China as sig
nificant power, with all that this implies
for the Russians, which lend a certain
plausibility to the Pravda proposal.
Washington is not going TO sit down with
Moscow tomorrow, or the day after. But
we would not care to bet that 1t will
never happen.