Evening star., 1962-08-26
No End in Siqht

It can hardly be said that all'S quiet
along the Berlin wall. Another East
Berliner has been killed while trying to
flee to the West. Scattered firing is
heard through the night. Still, the Off
cial estimate as Of yesterday was that
tension had eased somewhat And it is
at least hoped that this relaxation will
last for while.
In the long view, however, there Is
little basis for optimism. True, notes
have been dispatched, we have renewed
our invitation to the Russians for dis
cuSsions Of the dangerous Berlin Situa-
ton, and the Kremlin's protest against
the Stoning of its troops by West Berlin
ers was not unduly threatful But all of
this, to the extent that 1t may raise hope
of sweet reaSonablenesS, is highly decep-
tive. The truth is that we are on the spot
in Berlin, and it is very difficult to see
how we are going to get off,
The three-power note sent to the
Russians on Thursday was seemingly
firm in tone. 1t denounced the Soviet
action in liquidating its commandments
office in Berlin at time when tension
has arisen in Berlin as a consequence
of irresponsible action by East German
guards" It declared, without saying how,
that the three Western powers will
continue to hold the Soviet Government
responsible for the discharge Of its obli-
cations" in Berlin under the terms Of the
original four-power agreement. Then
came this interesting and possibly Signi-
ficant comment: q. Four-power re-
sponsibilities for Berlin can only be
terminated by peace settlement with
Germany as whole" But as Hamlet
put it: "Ay, there's the rub"
The Western position has been that
a German settlement must be based on
free election on the question Of re-
uniting West and East Germany. 1t is
interesting that there was no direct ref
erence to free election in the three
power note, and this must be because
there can hardly be a man alive who
thinks that the Russians will ever permit
such an election. For that matter, we
suspect that there is very little enthuSi-
asm in many European countries for
reunited Germany.
If the West sticks to It's position that
there can be no settlement of the Ger
man question without free election,
however, then we see no prospect Of an
end either to the German question or to
the Berlin crisis. And this is especially
serious for us in the case Of the latter.
If the deep thinkers who were
responsible for the Berlin arrangement
had deliberately tried to put us behind
the eight ball, they couldn't have done
better. The Western forces there are 110
miles inside Communist territory In
event of war they would be destroyed
almost at the outset. They are subject
to all kinds of harassment and pressures.
In short, every advantage lies with the
Communists; every disadvantage with
the West. Yet we are stuck with our
commitments to defend the freedom Of
West Berlin and, apparently, also with
our contention that the overall German
question can be settled only through
free election-an election which every
one knows is pipe dream.
In summary, then, we have been
in Berlin for II years. Unless there is
war, we will still be there II years from
now. So let's not be misled by few days
of relative quiet. There's no end in sight
to our massive Berlin headache.