Evening star., 1961-08-15
POLICY
Continued From First Page

commander in Germany today
were also approved and dis.
:, patched to Bonn, London and
tParis for approvak 3 L..
The four Western powers
also are considering economic
sanctions, and other forms Of
retaliation against the East
German mevegsasss9aSE,r K
No decision has been reached
whether the retaliatory moves
should be made only against
East Germany. against the So
Wet Union or against all eight
Warsaw pact countries. The
eight Communist members of
1.-THE East European alliance are
1 5Albania, Bulgaria, CZechoslo-
vakia, East Germany, Hungary,
| Poland. Rumania and the So
tviet Union. q = Is
InterzonaI Ban Considered
One move short, Of a broad
embargo against trade with all
WarsaW Pact powers might be
a shutdown of interzonal trade
between East and West Ger
many. This would hurt East
Germany more than West
Germany. according to Off
cials here.
Anotherl retaliatory act un-
der consideration would be to
restrict travel visas for East
Germans, or perhaps for all
Warsaw Pact powers. East
German officials are travel
ing freely throughout .S:ths
world, and have. been given
tra MS IT privileges through
West Germany. "a
High United States officials
were agreed, however, there
should be no nfoSe to provoke
demonstrations against the
| Communist East German re-
gfnae 90 long Ss Western ac-
cess to isolated Berlin Is urs-
iinpeded.
That was believed to have
been q major point Of policy
confirmed by Secretary of
State Rusk, in q 70Ifninute
meeting with President Ken
nedy yesterday and in the
four-power working group ses-
sion at the State Department.
ITO do anything to encourage
demonstrations a gainSt the
Red regime in East Germany
would be the first step on the
way to q conscious decision to
start a nuclear war in Ger
many, officials here said.
Refugees Discouraged
Western policy in the past
has been to discourage the flow
of refugees from East Germany
ito the West,
The allies do not want to see
East Germany "de-G German
iEed." believing it would be
better to keep the strong anti
Communists inside East Ger
many so long as they can with
stand the, Red pressures.
AS long as the Soviet main
tains 20-odd divisions inside
East Germany, officials said,
1t would be Committing sui
eide" to ask them to rebel.
While the West deeply dis
approves shutting off colnmu-
nications between East and
West Berlin, American officials
said it would not be to the
Vests advantage to do any,
thing drastic about it.
! The same philosophy ap-
plies throughout Communist
Eastern Europe. Encouraging
revolt would be a very serious"
decision, officials observed.
Chances Of success would be
VERY remote without overt
Western intervention. And
overt" intervention, officials
warned, would mean nuclear
war because the West does not
have adequate manpower under
arms to be sure Of winning a
local engagement.
Vests Action Limited
Much as it is to be desired,
these officials said, defense of
freedom is not something the
West can act on all around the
globe any time it wishes.
] High American sources also
disputed estimates by Demo-
cratic Senator Humphrey of
Minnesota that the Communist
regimes in the Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe face seri-
Gus food shortages. @
They pointed to Soviet Pre-
mier Khrushchev's remark in
a recent speech that this years
crop in the Soviet Union would
4 be one Of the best ever This
anformatiolf confirmed yhy
! Western intelligence sources:
> Official estimates also have
l'diScouhted reports that the food
situation is critical in other
East European states. Commu-
mist China is the only. Commu-
mist bloc country suffering
famine, officials said.