The U.N.'s 17th Assembly

...We must never forget his two sides, or rather Western policy must try to show him that aggression comes to grief...

...The one they did submit said precisely that the parties should confer with the Secretary General...

...The interest of collective security here lies athwart the interest of the new nationalism which uses the noble garb of anti-colonialism to promote special designs of power...

...This item came off the agenda, or did not get on to it...

...Khrushchev, a mere month after his utter defeat in Cuba, has warned us off the premises, and at the time of printing we may have another crisis.* Fortunately, the Cuban crisis was not settled at any particular place...

...But when the generals (or Stalinists, pro-Chinese) became aware of his misbehavior, they forced him to send a second telegram, conceived in more ponderous terms and demanding compensation as is customary in diplomatic dealing...

...There is the opportunity for a few historical digressions...

...Stalin never placed rockets in foreign communists' hands—not to speak of Cubans...

...He had threatened ominously to come to the U. N. session, but not before his rockets were in place to support his claim to the city...

...Do we have reason to rejoice in a new era of good feelings...

...The United States proposed to terminate Sir Leslie Munroe's mandate to investigate political conditions in Hungary and U Thant has accepted an invitation to visit Budapest— not as executor of resolutions still being flouted by the authorities there but as a private person, and Kadar has hinted that he might release some political prisoners in return for the validation of his delegates to the U. N. Even Castro has consented to the return of his prisoners—at a price...

...Several of the neutralist nations are in contempt of U. N. resolutions, others refuse to pay their assessments on expenses whose purposes they disagree with...

...To expand its jurisdiction to substantive matters of domestic policies, we must apply the same reasoning which has extended the jurisdiction of the U. S. Supreme Court...

...The sad, negative result was the proof that international law had been abandoned even by the U. S., its avowed champion, and the U. N. had been shoved aside deliberately...

...They have done so again dur ing the Seventeenth Assembly, notably in matters regarding racial colonialism...

...A New Era...

...since morning the place had been swarming with coat-tailed members of the Leningrad orchestra...

...Some good souls still pretend to wonder why Khrushchev emplaced these silly gadgets on Cuban sites...

...On Friday the 26th evening, Kennedy received a panicky note accepting peace at almost any condition, but on the following morning another note came, demanding the dismantling of the American bases in Turkey in return for a Russian retreat from Cuba...

...I would be happier to say: the United Nations should make all aggression impossible At present unfortunately, the United States alone is able and willing to make this point, even at the risk of war...

...The con * As we go to press, Tshombe seems to be finished, genitally vicious Zorin has been recalled to Moscow...

...His reward for not pressing his request was to come soon after the Cuban crisis: Khrushchev dropped his troika plan and allowed the election of a Secretary General to which he had objected before...

...in fact Khrushchev could have found no better authority for his "coexistence" than Stalin himself, and he has repeatedly said: in matters of foreign policy we are all Stalinists...

...International Law Abandoned It is characteristic of the Russians that once they realize a mistake, they can make a 180 degree turn-about...

...Khrushchev's authority in the Kremlin has not been hurt by the withdrawal of his rockets from Cuba, any more than Stalin's was hurt by his withdrawal from Iran or by the abandonment of the Berlin blockade...

...The Secretary General, far from expressing a general will of the nations, had been degraded to a simple letter-carrier, and the letter he carried read: Surrender or else...

...even after the crisis was over, the big powers did not allow the Security Council to hold a final session so that it might close the books on the incident...

...Moreover, the nations which are delinquent on this issue are precisely the ones which wish to give the United Nations more authority on substantive matters, even of internal policy within individual member nations...

...We do not achieve world federalism or peace if new substantive law is applied with discrimination, for the benefit of some but not all, to satisfy the personal ambitions of some leaders rather than by the wholehearted adoption of new principles, to suppress independence movements rather than to promote freedom...

...It would be far better if the United Nations were to provide collective security...

...The International Court at the Hague recently judged that assessments are dues...

...The idea had been suggested to him by—the American government which not only had agreed to place this question on the agenda of the disarmament talks but even had inquired in Ankara how the Turkish government would react...

...so you can see, they were just there to improve the landscape, because anyway if he wanted to hit New York and Washington, he could do it from Russian bases as well...

...Contrary to some American press reports, it is not of Soviet making but grew out of the U. N. action in that unhappy country...

...Khrushchev must have stolen out of a panicky meeting with his generals, to offer peace to Kennedy...

...Fortunately Khrushchev has answered the fools in his speech to the Supreme So viet on December 12th: he wished to "make the American imperialists realize that war was at their door, so that they would realize more realistically the dangers of thermonuclear war...

...for the latter was not talking to Castro, and the neutrals were unable to produce a resolution expressing a "general will...

...Apparently it was not "processed" through the departments and therefore arrived in Washington a few hours before the other which had been written earlier...

...he pulled out of Iran, ended the Berlin fight, cut the Greek Communists off arms supplies...

...All of which proves that it is wrong to see Khrushchev as either good or bad...

...It was Malinovsky, too, who apparently saw that no deal on Berlin was to be gotten for the Cuban bases and thought of settling for American bases in Turkey...

...We call this a face-saving device, and the United Nations is a great institution for saving faces...

...It stands to reason that nations cannot benefit from collective arrangements unless they abide by collective decisions...

...The reason unfortunately had long been obvious to all who are concerned about collective security...

...We are told that after Cuba has shown the brink to our and their policy-makers, perhaps the leaders will open a new book and place foreign relations on a basis of "coexistence" rather than contest...

...he helped him to liquidate Zhukov and the anti-party faction...

...Of course it is a mere accident that two events which happened Stanley Plastrik simultaneously exposed two basic faults of neutralism: it is ineffective in saving the neutrals from aggression, and it has no policy when two major powers are steering a collision course...

...The possibility of nuclear war was staring the Kremlin leaders in the face...

...Nevertheless, there were some signs of detente after the Cuban crisis...

...It would be comforting to know that in the absence of collective action at least the Secretary General had a hand in settling the crisis...

...Stevenson the chance for his remarkable performance as public prosecutor—but Americans who have seen it on TV failed to notice that he concluded with the even more remarkable admission that this was not serious work, and peace had to be made by direct negotiation between the main participants, the Soviet Union and the United States...

...I already have mentioned the election of U Thant to a full term...

...But to make new constitutional law means to apply a new principle to all citizens alike, or in this case, to all nations alike...

...As Indian troops are withdrawn and Indonesians are taking their place, Lumbumbist influences from outside the country are gaining ground in Leopoldville...

...It was then, probably, in the wee hours of a Moscow morning, that they decided to throw in the towel...

...Incidentally, he is Khrushchev's man...

...They gave Khrushchev an opportunity to say: I am not yielding to the United States, but I will do my friends Russell and U Thant a favor by holding my ships back...

...if any Russian, it was Marshall Malinovsky, the Neo-Stalinists or the "Chinese faction" in the Kremlin...

...They have not renounced their designs on Berlin but decided to try a diplomatic rather than a military approach...

...the swapping of bases was suggested in the English press and by Walter Lippmann on October 24...

...One day it might save the peace by saving a face, but this was not such an occasion...

...This unusual occurrence is interpreted in the following way: when the first telegram was sent, it was 2 o'clock in the morning Moscow time...

...More important perhaps was the removal from the Assembly agenda of an item Zorin had strained all his efforts to get included—the condemnation of war propaganda and subversion...

...Western governments usually go in quarter-turns to avoid strictures by the opposition, or because their pride will not permit admission of error...

...If the "second" telegram really was the first, the theory of "the military" forcing Khrushchev to take an intransigent stand is wrong...

...It seems he spent a billion rubles just because Castro needed some toys—yet he didn't even let Castro play with them, but sent a Russian guard to keep them under lock...

...otherwise we might have to deplore, by the time this column reachers its readers, the demise of another "spirit of —." Although I am writing at Christmastime, I cannot believe that any new spirit of reconciliation has broken out...

...The Cuba crisis showed to Khrushchev that it is better to have one Secretary General than three...

...He agreed with Castro that he had no right to make such a demand...

...When the concert was over, the delegates left their be-furred ladies and hurried into huddles or to the radio— to hear that the crisis was almost over: Khrushchev had written a letter to Bertrand Russell, had proposed a summit meeting, and had ordered his ships to turn around...

...And then, why "Stalinists...

...In the "Excorn" discussions Ambassador Stevenson reminded the President that the item still was on the agenda...

...but they did not even insist that it should be voted upon—in fact it never was...

...The Committee of Seventeen, reporting on the termination of colonialism, specifically excluded from its terms of reference "contiguous territories," i.e., to avoid debating India's Naga question, it defined colonialism strictly as naval imperialism (Russia simply smiling...

...But while the ponderous Soviet bureaucracy was "processing" this note, grave events intervened on Friday, the 27th...

...Tshombe, by a whimsical turn of history which makes one believe in Providential retribution, now is allied with the pro-Communist (so-called) forces which try to unseat the weak Adoula government which in turn now is supported by the Belgians...

...And where are those "Chinese...

...This was the time for Dean Rusk to say "The other fellow has blinked"—not two days later, as reported in the Saturday Evening Post...

...All we hear is a general attack on unknown "Stalinists"— certainly the most expected thing at a time when important economic shortcomings were being castigated...

...But we must be precise in defining what these letters did and what they did not do...

...They have adopted resolutions which may be in direct conflict with the words of the Charter which restricts the United Nations to the more formal task of regulating the mutual external relations of states...

...The Russians have no such inhibitions and compunctions...

...This threat was conveyed to the Russians, among other channels, through U. N. diplomatic gossip...

...they still refuse to allow any kind of inspection that alone would make disarmament talks meaningful...

...Khrushchev sent his urgent, panicky telegram, written so hastily that it bears the mark of unprofessional composition...

...Under this title Khrushchev apparently had planned to bring up the subject of Berlin...

...There were three more meetings of the Security Council, one of which gave Mr...

...U. Thant did not speak as a representative of the United Nations, but as one who had been at Bandung and at Belgrade, speaking to a fellow neutralist, in the name of 45 other neutralist nations entreating Castro to make a small contribution to peace...

...The Security Council interrupted a dreary session (which everybody knew would produce no solution to the current crisis) so that the nations could be united in Tschaikovsky and Beethoven...

...In the Congo itself a rather ugly situation is developing...

...It is worth reading the minutes of this meeting which Castro has published...

...Tragically the foremost representative of this attitude now has received a dose of his own medicine, and at that, from those whom he flattered himself to lead...

...The Cuban missiles were political blackmail to begin with, and Khrushchev was as responsible for their emplacement as for their removal...

...The very concept had been eroded year after year as one nation after the other took the law into its own hand and the majority condoned unilateral action because each of them counted on reciprocal services...

...Human rights and civil rights must be granted to all people, and the right of self-determination to all peoples the world over...

...Does he sound eager to risk war over Cuba...

...the Cubans shot down a U-2 and Kennedy spoke tougher language...

...Just a friendly reminder, in case we had any intention to continue "subversion" in Berlin...

...The authors of this fantasy fail to explain how Khrushchev, another 24 hours later, got the better of his col leagues and again accepted the terms of surrender...

...After Kennedy had won, he graciously allowed U Thant to assume a minor function, that of persuading Castro to allow the Red Cross a peek at the dismantling procedures...

...he trusted Chiang Kai-shek and sold the Chinese Eastern Railway to Japan...

...A resolution detailing co-operation in outer space for civilian purposes was adopted unanimously...

...The Russians still refuse to pay their assessments for U. N. operations...

...they are testing away merrily while bombarding us with offers of a moratorium...

...He is both, because basically he is an opportunist...

...Or Malinovsky, whose barracks looks so impressed the reporters in Paris 19601 It was Malinovsky who only two years ago submitted a secret memorandum asking for "a decade of peace to permit socialist construction in the Soviet Union...

...Has a single culprit been purged, or even named...

...Many delegates cite his letters to Kennedy and Khrushchev and the latter's enthusiastic acceptance...

...No one saved Khrushchev's face three days later when he meekly bowed to a U. S. threat of escalating the crisis...

...This was a positive result of the October events, for U Thant is planning great things in areas which may be more important than those which make world political news...

...Moreover, this craven neutralism has destroyed the effectiveness of the United Nations as a peace-making and peace-keeping agency...

...It will not do in the long run to be neutral between right and wrong, or to advise the victim to negotiate with the aggressor...

...But to do that they must be prepared to take the same chance all together...

...This was the moment the U. S. government chose to establish a "presence," once more supporting a government which is bound to fall, and again the U. N. provides a fig-leaf for intervention which by this time is resented by all Congolese...

...It was a face-saving Soviet demand on the 25th, and hence appeared in the note composed on the 26th for publication on Saturday, the 28th...

...This theory is supported by the confusing story of "the two telegrams...

...By way of confirmation we are assured that Khrushchev was not responsible for the Cuban crisis...

...Which is true...