Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-02-24
PARIS

Continued From First Page
withdrawal of American forces
from their bases in Western
Europe; no compromise which
would mean the liquidation of
"peripheral" allied base
around the Soviet Union.
Counted on Dulles
1t is perhaps not surprising
that the counterattack Of Eu-
ropean 'inf1exibleS" should
come at this time. To begin
with, France and Western
Germany have never gone along
with the new adventureSome
spirit so prevalent in Britain
and the United States. The one
man who might have succeeded
in perSuading them of the wis
dom of the new approach was
Secretary of State Dulles.
Whatever else they may
think Of him. they believe
quite simply that Mr.. Dulles
is one man who would never
sacrifice Western interests for
political expediency. But with
Mr.. Dulles out of action for an
indefinite time and British
Prime Minister Macmillan
hobnobbing with Soviet Pre-
mier KhruShchev in Moscow,
conservative European leaders
feel an urgent need to register
their own point Of view.
AS it appears here the essen
tial difference between the
'f1exibles" and the 'inf1eXibles"
springs from opposing views of
what the Russians are up to
IN Berlin and what their real
detectives are in Europe as a
whole.
The flexibles apparently be-
lieve that the Russians, by
threatening Berlin. hoped to
provoke serious four-power ne
gotiations on the questions of
German reunification and
European security. They be-
lieve the Russians are genu-
inely anxious for an agreement
which would remove the causes
of friction and lessen the dam
ger of war in Europe. Spe-
officially, they believe that Rus
STA may be willing to permit
identification of Germany for a
price that the West may be
able to afford.
The inf1exibleS, on the other
hand, believe Russian threats tc
Berlin are essentially an effort
to intimidate and divide the
Western powers. If negotiations
result, they believe the funda-
mental Russian goal will be
what it has been in past-the
destruction of NATO, the with
drawal of British and American
military forces from Europe. the
withdrawal of Germany from
all of its economic and military
alliances with the West and
the ultimate political triumph
of communism in Europe.
Timing Seen Bad
The infexibles question the
wisdom of trying to reach ar
accommodation" in Central
Europe at time when Russia
for all its talk of peace-is
waging it's most aggressive dip
lomatic offensive since the END
of the war, backed up by ar
open threat of military action
Or at time when the basic
principles to which Western
policy has been firmly anchored
for a decade are being so criti-
cally re-eXamined.
In short, they believe that il
is precisely these "inf1eXible
positions which have prevented
the Russians in the past from
attaining their primary goal;
in Western Europe. Beyond
this they have served to hole
together an alliance Of IA ma
tons for a decade. promoted
common policies in many area
and led to real progress toward
economic and political uniflca-
ton of Western Europe.
These things, the inflexible:
argue, are not inconSiderable
They should not be overlooked
in the search for new and i'm
aginative formulas. And thel
should not be bargained ava.
in the hope OF reaching accom-
nlodations which bear no real
istic relation to the politica
and military facts of life il
Europe tod