Evening star., 1960-06-10
BY CROSBY 8. MOVES

by CROSbY y. MOVES
European Correspondent Of The star
| PARIS, June l0.-Politics
aside. there are plenty of peo-
pie in Europe who agree with
Nelson Rockefeller that a clear
statement. Of American policy
is needed at this point.
Since the collapse of the
summit conference a most
earnest sampling of the diplo-
matte atmosphere reveals little
more than a dangerous vac
uum.
The loss of direction and
purpose that has overcome the
West has not been prevented
oy the exhaustive poStmortems
of the abortive Paris meeting.
Signs Of a growing lack of con-
fldence within the alliance are
too clear to be ignored.
This result, it seems to OBJ
servers in Europe, has not been
caused by any sudden loss of
faith In American leadership
because Of the U-2 spy plane
incident. And although the
problem of leadership in the
Alliance certainly is aggravated
by the coming American elec.
tionS. it is by no means exclu-
sively an American problem.
Containment SheIved
II goes back, in fact, to
abandonment of the policy of
"containment" of communism
which was the main purpose of
the free world during the John
Foster Dulles era. And now that
an alternative road toward an
international "detente" and
summit diplomacy has been
suddenly barred by Russian
Premier Khrushchev, it is little
wonder that a general feeling
of Illustration and anxiety
exists.
This feeling, one must add,
is at least as strong in Europe
as 1t is in the United States.
For British Prime Minister
Macmillan. who geared his
whole foreign policy to the
prospect Of a developing re-
Taxation Of tension and q sue
cesSful series of top-level meet
ings, the results of the Paris
meeting were at least as catas-
trophic as they were for Presi-
dent Eisenhower. Even Presi-
dent de Gaulle of France,
whose assessment Of the sum-
NIT debacle was less negative
than most, has turned to the
idea Of building Europe" as
a kind Of alternative to the
hope Of an East West under
standing.
Contact Is DifIicuIt
Neither Of these leaders, to
be sure, has abandoned the
idea Of making q new start at
negotiating with Russia. Both
speak Of the need for main
tanning contact and avoiding a
return to the cold war. But
with Mr.. Khrushchev giving
daily new proof Of his own in
transigence and negotiations at
all levels running into new diff
flculties, the question Of how
and where to maintain con-
tact Is not easy to answer.
Some diplomats in Europe
are beginning to take q more
gloomy view of Mr.. Khru-
shchev's recent behavior than
the one apparently prevailing
in the United States State De-
partment. The hopeful esti-
mate that there has been no
fundamental change in Russian
policy since the collapse at the
summit is being revised III the
light Of the new developments.
One significant new feature
Of Russian policy is Mr.. Khru-
Shchev's very obvious effort to
intimidate the weaker and more |
exposed members of the West
ern alliance. His repeated
threats of direct nuclear retalia-
ton against Turkey, Pakistari |
and Norway sound like the
opening Of q major offensive
whose results are by no means
as predictable as the West |
would like to pretend. And
elsewhere, in Korea and Japan,
in Cuba and South America,
Russian diplomacy has taken
on a tone Of open menace which