No Confidence

One international mystery was still publicly unsolved: why had the Russians withdrawn from the International Civil Aviation Conference in Chicago at the last minute? Russia had announced that it was because Spain, Portugal and Switzerland had been invited (TIME, Nov. 6). The six Russian delegates, who had reached Winnipeg en route to Chicago last week climbed into their plane again, flew back to Russia without touching U.S. soil. From informed Washington sources close to the Russians, some light was shed by this frank explanation of the Russian position:

"There is no hope for successful international cooperation as long as there is no mutual confidence among the great powers--and there is no such mutual confidence at this time.

"You have a typical example in the aviation conference. . . . The invitations were made public in September. But did anybody bother to inform the Russians about the invitations officially? No, though there were plenty of opportunities either in Moscow or here. The names of the countries to which the Soviets took exception were never mentioned. The point is: the Russians were not consulted in advance.

"The Russians made their decision known as soon as they heard officially of the participation of those countries. There is no indication at present when or where Russia would be willing to talk world aviation."

But the root of the trouble, said these informed sources, went far deeper than air matters or protocol; it also concerned the United Nations security conference to ratify Dumbarton Oaks:

"As the situation is now, the peace is assured on paper only. The basis of the work started at Dumbarton Oaks is full agreement among the great powers. This agreement is not being achieved because of the suspicious attitude of some great powers on the right of any great power to raise its voice on a problem involving it. To put it bluntly: Russians have been told that there might be some cases which they should not be allowed to discuss. They are not willing to have that spirit of suspicion implanted in the very first stages of the building of the security organization.

"U.S. diplomacy is partially responsible for this unhealthy situation. It is not capitalizing on the existing sound and deep-rooted elements for cooperation with the Soviet Union."

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