Evening star., 1961-02-15
The KremIin's True Face

Nothing could be more fatuouS than
the suggestion in some quarters that
the Kremlin-out of a desire to create
an atmosphere conducive to a possible
meeting between Premier Khrushchev
and President Kennedy-might be
temperate in its reaction to the death
Of Patrice Lumumba. Actually, the re-
action is outlandishly, If not ominously,
extreme, and it amounts to one of
htStorys truly monumental examples
Of hypocrisy.
Thus, with copiouS shedding Of
crocodile tears, MoScow'S frenetic radio
and press propagandiStS have pulled
out all the organ stops on the death of
the former pro-CommuniSt Congolese
Premier. "The world" they have
thnndered, will never forgive this
bloody crime of the colonizers," and the
Kremlin itself has of1cially carried the
theme to repellent excess: A mob, in
keeping with its orders, has viciously
attacked the Belgian Embassy in Moscow,
and the KhruShchev government has
issued formal statement whose out
rageous substance may be summarized
as follows:
y President TShombe of seces-
sioniSt Katanga Province must be
arrested and tried on charges of having
ordered Mr.. Lumumbas death. (2)
United Nations Secretary General Dag
Hammarskjold must be dismissed "as
an accessory to and organizer of the
murder of the leading statesman of the
Republic Of the Congo" (3) All foreign
troops must get out of the country
forthwith 80 as to give the Congolese
people the possibility to solve all their
home affairs themselves" And az the
''peace-loving" USSR, out Of the good
ness of its heart and because it is a sort
OF white -plumed knight championing
the cause of liberty" everywhere, is
prepared to give aid (including pre-
Sumably military add as "a sacred
duty" to be carried out in an effort to
restore the Communist Lumumbists to
power under the leadership Of the IA
riatical Antoine Gizenga.
: sAll this is something that speaks
for itself. Quite obviously, despite wish
fui talk to the contrary, the Kremlin is
in no mood to be either moderate or
truthful, which of course it has rarely
been. Instead, the Communist leaders
have embarked upon an enormously
dangerous course which has at least
three main obiectives: (D BY destroy
ing Mr.. Hammarskjold, to reduce the
United Nations to mere tool of Soviet
policy. (2) Failing this to so discredit
the U. N. as to render it helpless and
useless as an instrument for the main
tehance Of world order. (3) Finally,
after forcing out the U. N. troops, to
firmly implant the banner Of commu-
nism in the Congo by liquidating those
native CongoleSe who have resisted and
will continue to resist the pro-Lumumba
forces.
1t is essential, we think, that this
Communist serving, peace wrecking
program be met headon in the U. N.
If the non-CommuniSt member nations
cannot see the great danger, or if they
lack the will to stand up to and beat
down the challenge the days of the U. N.
as an effective agency are surely num-
bered. The United States, through Adlai
Stevenson and other members of our
U. N. mission, ought to take the lead in
exposing this Kremlin maneuver for
what 1t is, while organizing all possible
resistance to it.
And let there be no more naive
chatter about Russian moderation" in
the hope of better relations with the
Kennedy administration. For this vio-
lent assault on the United Nations strips
the mask from Mr.. Khrushchev and
reveals once again the true objective of
communism-world domination at al
most any COST