LACK OF WORLD POLICE FORCE THWARTS EFFECTIVE UN ACTION
Szulc, Tad
Lack of World Police Force Thwarts Effective UN Action An Editorial: The Cost Of Courage THIS WEEK is the dividing line for the American people. Decisions slowly fashioned in the heat of"...
...last but not least, to eolvo the Palestine riddle...
...Late in August, he blandly accused the four Western nations of having deadlocked the committee...
...Sharapov's accusations were vehemently denied, by Western mcmbcrs^iri ono of the most violent of tho com,mlttee's discussions, held last September in New York...
...Throughout J948, the Military Stuff Committee continued meeting under a heavy veil of secrecy which, incidentally, had been imposed on Russian request...
...third conflagration threatens humanity...
...The Military Staff Committee is h'opelessly stalemated and the chances are dim that the deadlock may ever be .b r o k e n. All decisions the Security Council may reach are fated to remain purely academic...
...to settle the differences between the Dutch and the Indonesian republic and prevent new and violent flare-ups in Java and Sumatra...
...THE SECURITY COUNCIL meanwhile had failed £o act on the Com...
...One was to formulate recommendations regarding the availability of armed forces, and assistance and facilities to be granted these forces...
...By Tad Szulc ALONG WITH more spectacular but less portentous acts of L obstruction in' the United Nations, the Soviet Union is succeeding in depriving <he UN of its enforcement powers...
...SHARAPOV'S EFFORTS didn't end there...
...On August 29, 1947, the Military Staff Committee sent all the figures to the Security Council, and informed it that one of its technical sub-committees would try and conciliate the different proposals...
...Committee has practically ceased all activities...
...It asked that the committee instead consider the contributions of the Big Five and other member nations to the armed force...
...If the amount asked for— J$5,580^)00,000—13 substantially cut, the 'whole plan for union and defense will be sabotaged...
...Pan American Maga-, sine,'' and "Front Page...
...The nations ara represented by skeleton delegations...
...Highly authorised UN quarters pointed out that the Soviet delegate to the Security Council '•« had taken considerable pains to keep, discussion of the Report off the agenda...
...The heart of the domestic opposition , to* this program will be the cry for ¦ economy...
...After weeks of arguments, the Western powers finally agreed on 15 divisions...
...After this there can be no lopkmg back...
...thc'Unitcd Slates, China and France agreed on all tho figures for naval vessels...
...The signing of the 12-nation Atlantic Pact, the authorization by the Senate of the second year of the European "Recovery Program, and the start of the crucial meeting of the United Nations Assembly all fall within this historymaking week...
...His articles have appeared in "Editor and Publisher...
...Quietly, "deliberately, and systematically, Russian representatives in the UN Military Staff Committee prevent the international organization from having armed force at its disposal...
...A population shivering behind an undefended border, cannot possibly work its way bark to industrial independence...
...They declared that Russian obstruction prevented them from agreeing on the first three points of the Staff Committee agenda...
...The figures submitted by the Russians could not be accepted by the four other powers...
...Western delegates objected: Since there was no agreement orfThe total strength of the force, they said, it would be difficult to define the contributions of different nations to the force...
...Two sub-committees were created...
...It told the Council that notwithstanding the continuous effort of the Western powers to work out a compromise, the Russians had refused to make any sizeable concessions...
...Three weeks later, they approved the compromise...
...Great Britain concurred on battleships, carriers and cruisers...
...Yet there are Senators in Washington who fulminate against proposals to supply arms to Europe...
...There was not even a remote semblance of cooperation on the part of the Soviet Union...
...the Soviet Union refused to budge from its initial figure of 1.200...
...Meetings arc still held weekly, but the sessions are limited to questions of procedure...
...If they had been willing to go along, the "UN long ago would have had an International police force and might now be able to guarantee protection td nations threatened with attack...
...Four rears after the and of World War II...
...Soviet obstruction in the Military Staff Committee is ultimately responsible for this state of affairs...
...The Russians refused to reconsider their stand...
...To the eyes of the world the United Nations is becoming an immense and tragic farce...
...The Soviet Union had scored a sizable victory even before this report was prepared...
...It had extended the deliberations of the Staff Committee to fourteen months...
...4 to Feb...
...14 before moving its headquarters to New York's Manhattan Building...
...In the conflict between dictatorship and democracy, our place will be taken and our responsibility accepted...
...This is no time for n«U»rdliness...
...only 25 were unanimously accepted...
...DEBATE IN THE Staff Committee opened with the consideration of the ground forces...
...Since early fall of 1947, these questions have lain dormant...
...The Russian* deiayed, talking about the deadlock in the Security Council on the statements of principle that had previously been submitted...
...Of the 41 articles making up the report on the "General Principles Governing the Organisation ef the Armed Forces Made Available to the Security Council by Member Nations of the United Nations...
...Furthermore, the fourth point—the standard form of agreement—was also blocked by the Russians...
...Because the great international union lacks the means of enforcing its will— arid because of Russian obstructionism —the Soviet spokesmen now protest , against democratic nations getting together to do what should be done by the world organization...
...As all eyes are turned on Lake Success, we present the following analysis of one of the UN's basic failings—lack of an international army—in the> hope that !t will make some small contribution toward maintaining peace...
...Without an armed fore*, the inter- .national organization can exist only a:J long as the Russians feel it is a good, soap-box...
...They also make a practice of initiating lortg discussions of procedure 1 at committee meetings...
...At this writing, the Military Staff...
...One simple thing citizens and legislators »hquld, bear in mind: The money requested is to be invested in the people Md resources of Europe., If we see this Program through and put Europe on its' feet, its increased wealth and power will more than reinforce our own strength in the struggle against the dkjtator countries...
...But as the General Assembly of 1947 at Flushing Meadows approached, the Soviet Union, in a letter to the Security Council, placed the blame for the deadlock on the Western powers...
...Although we are giving billions for industrial rehabilitation, people cannot b'_» expected to feel safe enough to work and invest and produce unless they have the means of defense...
...mlttee's Report on "General Principles," submitted in July, 1947...
...This work stymied, the Western powers proposed that the committee shift its discussions to the standard form of agreement...
...Tad Ssulc is a veteran newspaperman currently working on a book about South America...
...Actually, the committee made further attempts—entirely unsuccessful—to reach an agreement on the size and composition of the international army...
...Russia, of course, had disagreed all along tne line, proposing 1,200 planes (compared to the U.S...
...Russian obstructions increased, and it became cjear that a compromise was a myth...
...One Western Staff Committee member also observed that the strange procedure adopted by the Soviet delegation gave its members a "striking inferiority complex," which made things even more complicated...
...Last July, the Military Staff Committee submitted a highly confidential report to the Security Council...
...Thus the Soviet Union had deadlocked • the question of the .creation of the UN armed forces in both the Security Council and the Military Staff Committee...
...the remaining 16 articles were the key ones...
...But by the end of July, 1947, they finally submitted their own estimate...
...estimate of 2,800), no battleships or carriers, and fewer Fhipsihan any of the other po\V* ers had recommended...
...The report included the compromise estimate figures agreed upon by- the Western pqwers and China...
...The other was to prepare a standard form of agreement between the Security Council and member nations concerning the proviI gion of armed forces...
...They were to repeat this scheme a year later...
...Where the United Stales had recommended 3,800 planes...
...The Russians, who had proposed 12, consulted with Moscow...
...Lacking recommendations from tho Military S*taff Committee, the" Security ^ Council—deadlocked smcC Sum me v 1947 on the issue of general principles— has no Basis 'for taking the initiative in negotiating with member states tho agreements provided for by Arliclo 43 of the UN Charter, The Soviet Union has apparently succeeded in depriving the United Nations Of a striking urm...
...They hardly participate in discussions until the end of the session...
...By their vetoes, by their never-ending filibusters, by their persistent recalcitrance, they have reduced the United Nations to impotence...
...Sharapov's charges followed closely the speech in the Security Council by Soviet delegate Jacob Malik, wherein the Russian diplomat had blamed the West for disrupting the work of tfre Atomic Energy Control Commission and the Conventional Armaments Commission...
...But when it came to naval and air forces, it was a different story...
...Small wonder that in Washington men are shuddering with apprehension...
...In Rio do Janeiro, ha was Associated Press correspondent, and chief correspondent for the French Press Agency...
...ON FEBRUARY 3. 1948, representatives of the Big Five Chiefs of Star] met in London...
...It is interesting tO|note that the chief • delegate of the Soviet Union t& the United Nations has no .authority over issues involving the Military Staff Committee...
...Needless to say...
...Decisions slowly fashioned in the heat of" the past three years come up for ratification...
...Its delegation once more refused to agree to the use of battleships and aircraft carriers...
...The strength of the new union of democratic nations depends partly on the restoration of nnlitary power in Western Europe...
...The estimates of four of the Big Five were sent to the Secuflfjr Council on June 30...
...The United States had recommended 20, Britain and China 3 to 12, and Fiance 16...
...1947...
...A clever andvffficient blocking and delaying of this committee's activities was, and is, tantamount to reducing the UN to a powen less group of well-meaning statesmen...
...General Sharapov, the new chief of the delegation, is known to have said in a committee meeting that "the Soviet Union would abstain if the Western members proceeded to discuss the agreement form over his objection...
...France 1.275, and Britain and China (who submitted identical figures all the way through) 1.200...
...In the case of naval vessels, they refused to recommend use of any battleships and aircraft carriers...
...This usually took • a week or ten days, no matter how insignificant the point was...
...SHORTLY AFTER the presentation of the Committee's Report, the Security Council began discussing the 25 unanimously accepted articles...
...1 It took tk« Military Staff Committee more than a year to prepare its first report to the Security Council, submitted on April 30...
...The Western powers followed this .report with, a letter to the Security Council...
...The billions that •re asked will be invested in power rar democracy...
...The bill providing for the second year of European Recovery will probably ipass without crippling amendments...
...Soviet Tactics May Render "Assembly Purely Academic The United Nations Gentral Assembly re-convened in New York City this week in an atmosphere of' tension which deiies description...
...Since all the powers had compromised on 15 land divisions, the question of the air force was still tho major area of disagreement among the, Western powers...
...Lack of an international police fore* madftiAt impossible to stop the civil war in Greece...
...It met from Feb...
...Normally, the bemedaled Soviet generals and admirals ¦ limit themselves to informing the com• mittee of their stand on the issue under consideration...
...Having had a month to look over the other,.powers' proposals, the Soviet delegation for the most part merely submitted the lowest figure for each type of military force...
...Never has the hypocrisy of the Russians been more clearly revealed than in the objections to the Atlantic treaty which they are preparing to present at Lake Success...
...The Russians realized early that the little-known Military Staff Committee was the vital spot in the whole United Nations structure...
...IN THIS REPORT...
...Lacking the courage necessary for • greatness, they chatter about the costs...
...The Military Staff Committee was again deadlocked...
...to bring a quick end to the India versus Pakistan dispute over Kashmir and the Northwestern, Frontier Province...
...THE SOVIET DELEGATION to the Military Staff Committee, then led by ¦ Lieutenant General A. P. Vasiliev of • the Red Army, managed to delay each ¦ decision by referring every point under ¦ discussion to Moscow...
...Acting under Article 47 of the Charter, they formally established the Military Staff Committee...
...It also began arguing over the remaining 16 proposals, formulated individually by each of the Big Five.» The argument went on and on, and finally, on June 23, 1947, the Security Council directed the Military Staff Committee to submit a detailed estimate of the over-all strength of armed forces to be made available fo its call...
...And when the report was finally presented to the Security Council, it contained no solutions to the problems on which the actual creation of a UN Armed Force depended...
...According to some Western members of the committee, the reason behind this was that the Soviet Union has no modern battleships or Carriers...
...The American people will be told that we cannot afford it...
...Appropriations must pass both houses...
...But this remains an empty gesture until supporting appropriations have been ;made...
...At the last moment, the Soviet delegation balked...
Vol. 32 • April 1949 • No. 15
