Damned

The U.S. was soundly pummeled during a meeting of the Institute of Pacific Relations which ended last week in Lucknow, India. The Asiatic members waded in with all the anti-American postwar squawks which are becoming more & more popular in Asia, in part because so many Americans attach undue importance to what other nations think (or say they think) about the U.S.

For instance, many delegates complained that the U.S. had acted in Korea, but had not taken sides in the dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. This was supposed to prove that the U.S. did not really care about Asia, but only intervened when its own (or Russian) interests were involved.

The usual American reaction to this sort of thing is to keep quiet and look vaguely guilty. One American at Lucknow did not feel that way about it. Robert North, of Stanford University, summed up his reactions to the Asiatic criticism of the West. Said he:

"If the West gives aid it will be feared for its imperialism; if it withholds aid it will be denounced for its indifference; if it establishes garrisons it will be attacked as expansionist; if it keeps its troops at home it assures success of aggression in Asia; if it expresses no political preferences it will be accused of siding with reaction and the status quo; if it supports progressive forces it will be condemned for intervention.

"In other words, we are damned if we do and damned if we don't."

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