Dead Center

In Paris one day last week, George Marshall and his U.N. delegates seemed all set to tell the Israelis to disgorge their recent military gains in the Palestine Negeb. The day after, however, U.N. watched in momentary amazement as the U.S. fell all over itself to send the whole touchy subject to a subcommittee. What was up? Said one delegate, when asked by reporters, "Address all your questions to the White House." President Harry Truman had made up his mind that nothing should be done to "embarrass" the Israelis.

Also undecided last week was the matter of Berlin. Joseph Stalin (with no elections to worry about at home) jumped into that deadlock with an accusation. He said that the Western powers had welshed on a deal between Argentina's Juan Bramuglia and Russia's Andrei Vishinsky. U.S. Delegate Philip Jessup had a fine chance to tell the world that Stalin was a liar--and prove it. Instead, Jessup, using the palest diplomatese, gibble-gabbled: "If Stalin's reference to an agreed solution which subsequently was repudiated refers to any resolution agreed to by the three Western powers and the six neutrals, no such agreement ever existed. Therefore, there was no question of any violation."

Stalin's remarks took the form of a question-answer dialogue with an unnamed correspondent of Pravda, almost as if the Soviet generalissimo were talking to himself. Excerpts:

Question: "How do you regard the results of the discussion in the Security Council on ... Berlin . . .?"

Stalin: "... a display of the aggressiveness of the ... Anglo-American and French ruling circles . . ."

Question: "What can all this end in?"

Stalin: ". . . in an ignominious failure on the part of the instigators of a new war."

Under the frozen surface, the cold struggle for power continued. In the Soviet zone of Germany, the Russians were building up a huge new German "police" force (see FOREIGN NEWS). The five Brussels Treaty nations, plus the U.S. and Canada, were getting ready to bring out into the open some plans for a North Atlantic Defense Pact (see CANADA)--under which the U.S. and Canada might start a new flow of military lend-lease to Western Europe. Otherwise, matters were on dead center for a few days.

In Paris, only the distracted French were sympathetic toward the U.S. diplomatic paralysis. Said one U.N. delegate: "We French know the difficulties of internal politics."

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