Evening star., 1959-12-27

really discernible difference in So
Wet policy under Premier Georgi
Malenkov, or, later, Premier Nikoh
Bulganin.
The Hydrogen Bomb
While political relationships
continued to be chill, military
matters were changing radically.
The Soviet Union, moving up its
successful explosion Of an atomic
bomb in 1949 with q blast from
a thermonuclear device-the
hydrogen bomb"-in August,
1858. The balance Of terror" was
indeed changing, and the world,
almost incredulouSly and thor
oughly reluctantly, faced a future
of fright. Massive retaliation"
as a defense posture seemed sud-
denly sterile, for humiliation was
obviously mutual. "Fallout" be-
came a new word and a murderous
spectre in the air we breathed,
the food we ate, the clothes we
wore.
The first measurable indication
of the changing world scene was
the Geneva summit conference"
of 1855. A new figure had emerged
in the inner councils of the
Kremlin; his name was Nikita S.
Khrushchev. and he was beginning
to have his way. The first sum
nit" was apparently a success, at
least in cordiality. Secretary of
State Dulles and Soviet Foreign
Minister Vyacheslav Molotov made
no secret of their disapproval. but
the heads-of state of the United
States, the Soviet Union, Britain
and France managed to achieve
something called briefly "the
spirit of Geneva"
Drive Into Egypt
In 1856 the Western alliance
was strained nearly to disaster.
Egypt's pan-Arab dictator, Canal
Abdel NaSser, seized and national
lied the vital Suez Canal. Britain,
France and Israel. after some
weeks of fruitleSs negotiations, in
vaded the Sinai peninsula and
drove deep into Egypt. The Egyp-
tians, retreating, effectively
plugged the canal with sunken
ships and blown-up bridges;
Western Europe's oil supplies were
shut of as if a tap had been
turned.
The United States refused firmly
to support the invasion or to toll
crate it. Siding with the Soviet
Union in an amazing display of
concern with International prin-
ciple. the United States led the
United Nations in condemning the
invasion of Egypt. Almost imme-
diately the British-French-Isr Israeli
action was halted. The U. N. un-
dertook the immense job of polio
ing the area of hostilities with a
voluntary force contributed by
neutral nations, and at the same
time set up an engineering force
to clear the plugged waterway.
Both missions were speedily sue
cessful.
Even while the invasion Of
Egypt was being planned, the
Soviet Unions socialist camp" of
Eastern Europe was rocked by a
series OF 'revisioniSt" protests
that. in Hungary, erupted into
armed revolt. Recent disclosures
have made it plain that Moscow's
reaction to the Hungarian upriS-
ing was so strangely delayed be-
cause there was considerable dis
sension IN the Soviet hierarchy
over the proper measures to be
employed. But on November 4,
the Soviet Army marched back to
Budapest, and in matter of days
tanks and troops had ended
futile bid for freedom.
The West in the 1950s lost
Northern Wet Nam to the Com
munists under Ho Chi-minh, and
agreed to division of the for
mer French colony at Geneva.
Regional alliances continued to
be the tool of the Vests defenses:
After the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization in 1949, there came
the Southeast Asia Treaty Or
ganization and later the Bagh-
dad Pact, now known as the Gen.
tral Treaty Organization, COM
prlSed of Pakistan. Iran, Turkey,
and Britain, with the United
States member in everything
but name.
The Turning Point
But October 5, 1857, was the
major turning point of the 1950s.
On that date. to the amazement
and CONSERVATION of the Western
world, the Soviet Union launched,
successfully. the first man-made
satellite into outer space. "Sput-
mix 1" became the whirling symbol
of mighty change, the spectacu-
lar evidence that the preponder-
ance of power lay no longer with
the West. The Russian satellite
was the pioneer of the Age of
Space. as well as a reminder to
the world that Soviet science was
surely not tagging in the race for
chronological superiority in the
nuclear age.
Despite the beginning signs
of thaw, the extension of cultural
and other relations, the relative
absence of Sabre-rattling or more
accurately for the sos, nuclear
bomb rafting, the gulf between
East and West continues to be
wide and dangerous. There is
new maturity, apparently on
both sides. in dealing with it.
But very much indeed remains
to be accomplished before the
world can look forward to a new
decade with any real sense of Sc
curity.