Milford chronicle., 1962-02-02
5000
NEW DISARMAMENT TALKS

l.
The worlds people may be forgiven if
their hearts do not dutifully leap with opti-
mism at the news that a new disarmament
conference will open in Geneva in mid
March. There have been lot of disarma-
ment conferences since the end of World
rather than optimism.
1t does not follow that the coming 18-
nation talks on arms control should cyni-
cally be written off before they start If we
thus abandon hope, and surrender ourselves
to disillusionment, we will in effect be push
ing civilization toward the abyss of war.
There is no reason for optimism as to
the outcome of the Geneva conference. There
are slim grounds, however, for hope that
something may come Of these meetings. The
United States and the Soviet Union did
agree last September on broad principles.
1t is this agreement that will form the basis
of the Geneva talks and, hopefully, of an
eventual disarmament treaty.
Another thread of hope is to be found
in the unanimous concern among United
Nations members. The General Assembly,
representing 1O4 nations, adopted without
a dissenting vote resolution calling upon
the disarmament body to press for agree
ment on general and complete disarmament
under effective international control" This,
it was urged, ought to be treated "as mat
ter of utmost urgency"
A sense of urgency is no guarantee that
an agreement will be reached But some
comfort can be derived from the fact that
this urgency is felt. The hopes of the ma
tions-and of the worlds people, whose fate
is ultimately more important than the fate
of nations-rest upon the success of the dis
armament conference and other efforts to
avert another world war.
BRITISH HIT U. N
The Earl of Home, Britains Foreign
Secretary, has struck out at the United Ma
tions, accusing the world body, among other
things, of continually criticizing British
colonalism and ignoring Soviet colonial
ism.
The British Foreign Secretary's argu-
ment is certainly we'll founded. When one
looks back over the last fifteen years and
sees what Great Britain has done, in the
way of free colonial peoples, it totals up
to an impressive record-and one which has
probably never been matched in world his
tory.
The British have freed over 10000, 900
people, They have made new and independ-
ent states out of various colonial lands in
Africa and Asia and in other areas of the
world They are moving fast toward free
ing many others-in the opinion of some
too fast.
In most of the instances where the Brit
ish have been colonial masters they have
managed to leave some kind of stability and
order behind, when they departed. There
have been bad spots in the long record =
Egypt and the reinvasion ard others = but
on the whole the British record is one of hav-
ing taught their colonial peoples democracy
and order and granted them freedom
How can any diplomat at the United
Nations criticize the British today, while
remaining silent on the Soviet Unions col
Onialisrn? The SOviets have done lust the
opposite in the postwar years. They have
invaded countries with the Red Army, held
them, suppressed freedom, and built large
colonial empire.
If the so-called neutral leaders at the
United Nations want that organization and
their own reputation to amount to anything,
they will have to muster the courage and
moral integrity to admit that the British
record on colonialism has been remarkable,
in the postwar years, and that the Soviet
Union is the country which poses the great
problem in today's world, and in today's
trend toward independence for the worlds
various peoples.