Evening star., 1962-09-25
ChoIIenqe to the Free

has ulSG WIFI llIIl6
success so far, Secretary of State Rusk
is continuing his efforts to persuade the
free maritime countries--particularl
our NATO allieS-to cooperate with
the United States in clamping down on
strategic shipments to Communist Cuba.
To that end, during his current
visit to New York for the 18th session
of the United Nations General Assembly,
Mr.. RuSk will have a series of converSa-
tons with numerous Western foreign
ministers. The first of these talks has
been with Britain's Lord Home, and
although the latter is said to have
been less than positive in his response,
the Secretary apparently feels that
the gentle art of persuasion may yet
pay off in the form of effective allied
action against the Havana tyranny.
At any rate, as Mr.. RuSk has made
clear, what the United States seeks Is
a program under which the following
would happen: ~ Countries like Can
ada, Britain, West Germany and Greece
b. would stop exporting to Cuba such
things as machinery, chemicals and
industrial raw materials. And (2) the
governments of the Atlantic community
would diSSuade their shipping interests
from chartering vessels to carry Soviet
cargoes and "technicians" to Havana.
Essentially the same measures have
been advocated by the American Mer-
chant Marine Institute, which repre-
sents management, and by our top
maritime labor leaders, who have urged
uniontzed seamen throughout the free
world to refuse to sail any ships headed
with strategic goods for the Kremlin's
menacing new base in the Western
Hemisphere.
However, although West Germany
has indicated favorable attitude, the
general NATO reaction to Mr.. Rusk's
proposals has been largely negative up
to now. Britain and a number of our
other allies have suggested, for example,
that the United States takes too grim
view Of Cuba. Further, they have
iI1timated that their domestic laws,
and the fact that they maintain diplo-
matte relations with Fidel Castro's
notwithstanding dictatorship, make it
difficult for them to engage in an en-
barge on Cuban trade. So Mr. Rusk,
wholly apart from his cherries meet
ings with Soviet Foreign Minister Gro
nlyko, has his work cut out for him in
New York
First of all, he must try to shatter
the complacency Of some of our allies
by making clear that the threat in
Cuba, in Its potentials at least, is indeed
most grave, not merely for us, but for
the entire free world. And second,
while putting emphasis on this reality,
he must convince the British and others
that unless they join us in cutting down
on strategic shipments to Havana, they
will be bolStering CaStro'S wobbly econ
orny. AS result, in turn, they will be
strengthening the KremIin's grip on
the island, paving the way for further
Red subversion in Latin America, and
thus striking another serious blow
against the Vests global position.
In these circumstances, 1t is hard
to understand why our allies take what
seems to be an altogether cavalier view.
What is happening in Cuba is not an
inconSequential comic opera; on the
contrary, it involves Supremely pro-
vocative display of naked Soviet power
in one of the Vests most sensitive
areas. The challenge in that respect
is not to Americans alone, but to free
men everywhere.