EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL Berlin Balance History will not place the Berlin conference just concluded in the same class with Munich and Yalta; it resulted in no vast territorial concessions and created no strong...
...economic aid, and a U.S.-sponsored resolution proposing common action against Communism in the hemisphere...
...The Berlin discussions regarding Germany and Austria seem to point to the first verdict, but that last frantic day at Berlin--inn which Asia was the subject of secret discussion--opened new vistas for democratic suicide...
...Rather, Berlin will rank with such ambiguous events as Henry Ford's peace ship and Lord Runciman's exploratory conferences with Hitler: Depending on what happens next, Berlin will stand either as an isolated episode of futility or as an overture to major disaster...
...The exigencies of campaigning will delay EDC still further...
...In the first place, the very fact that a new conference will take place in April immediately postponed all attempts to have the European Defense treaties ratified until the summer...
...A few weeks ago, John Moors Cabot resigned as Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs after the Treasury had refused to enlarge the power of the Export-Import Bank to grant long-term development loans to Latin American nations...
...Caracas Conference The Tenth Inter-American Conference opens this week in Caracas, Venezuela in an atmosphere of controversy...
...The answer to that one probably is that a few more Berlin conferences will make a weakened Kremlin impossible...
...Still others resent our failure to display as much concern over right-wing dictatorships as we do over Guatemalan Communism...
...Once the Peking bandits are seated at Geneva in April (and one can be sure that they will sit awhile), it will be very difficult to deny them a seat in that very same United Nations...
...Such a forthright stand might weaken several Latin American dictatorships and, at the same time, rally more support for anti-Communist measures...
...intervention...
...Our choice of the site, which two decades ago witnessed the burial of good wishes and collective security in the quagmire of appeasement, was not intended to be symbolic...
...The entire concept of the United Nations as the power-enforcing collective security against Communist aggression has been sidetracked...
...But some Latin Americans are indifferent to this threat, and others feel a sneaking admiration for Guatemala's audacity in challenging Washington...
...the charges of gouging by Latin American coffee producers already heard in this country have caused considerable resentment...
...But we still have time to make it clear that we do not endorse dictatorship of any type anywhere in the hemisphere...
...The two main issues at Caracas are the desire of Latin American nations for more U.S...
...Yet, even if all of this happened and supposing that it were all to the good (an impossible supposition), is that the only dangerous outcome of Berlin...
...At this conference, the Soviet regime, which sponsored the aggression in Korea, will sit as an impartial mediator on Korean questions...
...As a result, Costa Rica is boycotting the conference, and the Uruguayan Congress and Chilean Senate have formally protested...
...What happened on that last day in Berlin...
...Latin American chagrin will be even greater if we make any accusations of underhanded dealing in coffee...
...the type of action directed against Guatemalan Communism today, it is felt, might be aimed at another type of regime tomorrow...
...Parliamentary action in France and Italy during the summer is difficult enough, but it is the obvious Communist hope that, by that time, new elections will have been forced in both countries, or at least in Italy...
...Another dangerous fact at Berlin was that the Western Allies accepted--after five years of adamant refusal--Stalin's original terms for an Austrian treaty...
...Luckily for Mr...
...The Western Allies agreed to join with the Kremlin in sponsoring a new conference on Asian problems on April 26 in Geneva...
...Latin American democrats note that our anti-Communist resolution comes at a time when we are apparently making friendly overtures to Peron...
...Dulles, Molotov turned down this offer at Berlin because he now feels strong enough to reject any Austrian treaty...
...Our neighbors will not get much satisfaction on the question of economic aid...
...Finally, there is the still-latent fear of U.S...
...Thus, all we can offer at Caracas is a slight amplification of Point Four-type technical aid...
...Among them: prohibiting Austria from harboring anti-Communist refugees...
...And once talks on Indo-China start on the note of reconciling the Ho Chi Minh rebels, it will be very hard to avoid a Polish-type "coalition" regime...
...The prospects at Caracas are thus not very hopeful...
...To begin with, this meeting, designed to strengthen democracy in the Americas, is being held in the capital of one of the most ruthless dictatorships in the hemisphere...
...The Chinese Communist regime, once labeled by the UN as the aggressor in Korea and now the main inciter of civil war in Indo-China, will sit as an impartial mediator on Indo-Chinese problems, which will be discussed whether or not any progress is made on a Korean settlement...
...but what if, at some later date, a weakened Kremlin decides to accept what are now out Austrian terms...
...it resulted in no vast territorial concessions and created no strong hopes of lasting peace...
...Our attitude on economic aid will largely determine the reception accorded the anti-Communist resolution, which is aimed at Guatemala, where Communist influence has reached dangerous proportions...
...Hardly...
Vol. 37 • March 1954 • No. 9
