ALLIES ARE NOW DRIFTING APART

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 251, 23 October 1945, Page 5

ALLIES ARE NOW DRIFTING APART

Western Powers And Russia N.Z.P.A. Special' Correspondent—Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, Oct. 22. Whether the atomic bomb is the cause or not, the fact remains that an increasingly gloomy view is being taken here of relations between Britain and America on one hand and Russia on the other. The failure of the London Conference has not been followed by any move towards clearing up the misunderstandings of that ill-fated meeting; reports from every quarter of Europe, as well as Japan, indicate that—to use an understatement—relations between the big Powers could be happier, and on every side there are indications that the Powers are drifting further and further apart. The protest of Britain and America against the Russian proposal that Hungary should sign a five-year economic and trade agreement with her is regarded as symbolical of the present impasse. As the Times diplomatic correspondent points out: "It means that the Western Allies are openly differing from the Soviet Government on yet another phase of policy in Central and South-eastern Europe." In Hungary itself it is clear, says the Observer, that a Government and State crisis has broken out.