Gong for the Third Round

When U.S. Ambassador Bedell Smith left the Kremlin one night last week, he said to newsmen: "Molotov, three hours. No Stalin. No comment." The reporters then turned to Frank Roberts of Britain. "You heard him, didn't you?" said Roberts. "No comment." Yves Chatigneau of France smiled, said nothing.

While the world waited for something more solid than speculation to come out of the most hush-hush series of conferences since the war, there were certain facts and probabilities to keep in mind. One was that the Kremlin would probably ot be willing to lift the Berlin blockade in return for a mere agreement to confer.

On the other hand, the West would probably not make vital concessions in return for a temporary lifting of the blockade; there would have to be guarantees against clamping down the lid at any time the Kremlin might want to apply pressure. A good deal of down-to-earth horse trading was in order before any conference could be set up.

Nevertheless, some kind of Big Four conference seemed almost a certainty, beause relations between Russia and the West had entered a third postwar phase, The first was the period of phony collaboration. It was ushered in by the Potsdam conference where Harry Truman played a minuet on the piano while the Russians (politically) danced a hobnailed kazachok over Europe's face. After some two years of that, the Truman Doctrine ushered in the Cold War, a period of mobilization during which the West pulled back from direct contact with Russia, while organizing (under ERP) its joint defense.

Phase III seems about to begin. The West has come back into close contact with the Russians, but not on the Phase I basis. Now the West's eyes are somewhat open and it is no longer helpless before Russian propaganda attacks. Phase III will call for day-to-day shrewdness and forcefulness on specific issues.

That Phase III had arrived was in itself a partial victory for the West. But was it prepared for the mobile political action that would now be required? There were signs that Washington, London and Paris were still unable to think two moves ahead. The Danube conference was a good sample of how the West could lose the third round.

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