Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-02-24
BY JOHN M. HIGHTOWER
Associated Press staff writer

1
! Associated Press staff writer
The United States and Rus
STA are sliding back into the
hostile pattern Of name-call-
ing, rocket-rattling and cold
war maneuvering which often
leads to some severe crisis In
East-West relations.
The strong conviction in Of
fetal quarters here, after the
Cuban crisis last fall, that pro-
found improvements were al
most inevitable in Moscow
Washington relations Is ebbing
away.
Hopes for early agreement
on a nuclear test ban treaty
through negotiation at Geneva
have all but vanished. The
United States favors resuming
talks with Russia on the Berlin
problem, as the Soviet govern
ment suggested last month. but
positive results from such o
further exchange on this crit
ical issue are not now expected.
State Department officials
privately agree the Soviet at
titude toward the United States
is hardening, but enter one
major reservation. Premier
Khruschev has not committed
himself to a new policy Of bel
ligerence. The Kremlin may
still be reviewing its policy as
1t was in the immediate post
crisis period. There Is some
evidence it is still on q zig-zag
course, but the swing now is I'M
mistakably to a tougher line.
Test Ban Talks BOgEed
Yesterday the top Soviet ne
gotiator at the Geneva disarma-
ment conference, Deputy For
eign Minister Vastly Kuznetsov.
left for Moscow only hours be-
fore the United States disarma-
ment chief, William C. Foster,
was due back in Geneva from
Washington. Nuclear test ban
talks have moved into a dead
lock in the last two weeks and
Mr.. KuznetSov's departure is
apparently a snub to further ef-
forts at agreement, as promised
by Mr.. Foster.
What is happening in the
nuclear test field Is only one
of recent tension-creating incl
dents that tend to harden East
West policies with q potentially
profound effect on allied as well
as cold war problems.
For example, II President
Kennedy's relations with Mr..
Khrushchev get worse-as they
normally would in a period Of
cold war tension-his relations
with French President Charles
de Gaulle might get better. Yet
the tendency of the Western
allies as q group Is to divide
along different lines when the
tensions are high as compared
with the splits which appeared
when Soviet pressures relax. So
there might be more difficulties
between Washington and Lon
don.
Also. If the colo war should
really get rough again, the
present effort to tighten the
alliance and promote unity
within the Western world would
probably be sidetracked; gov
ernments concentrate on what
ever crisis is before them and
let the long-range programs
wait.
Soviet Policy TOughens
The most spectacular evil
dence Of a toughening of Soviet
policy may actually be the least
significant at the moment.
That was Fridays speech by
the Soviet Defense Minister
Rodion Y. Malinovsky, In which
he boosted Of Soviet nuclear
might and warned the United
States that any attack on Cuba
would start World War III.
This tough and belligerent
talk, in the presence Of Mr..
Khrushchev, made less impress
sion than might have been ex-
pected at the White House and
the State and Defense Depart
ments. There are two reasons
for this:
Intelligence experts expected
the Soviets to try to rebuild
some Of the prestige they lost
in Cuba. The speech was deliv-
cred on the Russian equivalent
OF Armed Forces Day and vio-
lent statements are character
istic Of national military days
on both sides Of the iron
curtain.
Yet there was a sharp con-
trast between the United States
and Soviet government lines.
While Marshal Malinovsky's
threats were still fresh, Secre-
tary Of State Rusk spoke in
Cincinnati Friday night and
made what amounted to an