POLITICS DESIGNED TO STRETCH

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31231, 1 December 1966, Page 17

POLITICS DESIGNED TO STRETCH

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) NEW YORK, Nov. 30. The diplomatic and political worlds now seem to be following the fashion world: policies, like ladies’ pants, are being redesigned to stretch, says James Reston, of the “New York Times.”

Reston writes: Nothing much has really changed, but everything is being cut for change, flexibility, and ease of movement.

In this new mode, the rigid

line is going out of fashion. The nations, like the sexes, are now prepared to talk about anything. They seem to be saying there are no solutions to big problems, only adjustments, and everybody must be free to move.

On the day that Janos Kadar, of Hungary, called for Communist unity against “our common enemy,” meaning the United States, Washington raised the diplomatic status of the Hungarian mission from a Consulate to an Embassy.

While President Johnson vows to prosecute the Vietnam war until the Communists stop fighting, he calls for a “reconciliation” with the Soviet Union and its Eastern European allies. In Germany, the Christian Democrats and Willy Brandt’s Socialists, who have been gouging and denouncing each other for a generation, are now forming a grand coalition to run the country.

In Britain, Mr Wilson Is beginning to talk a little more positively about joining the Common Market; and in Asia at least some of the free nations are convening together on their common problems. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, President Johnson has been saying nice things about the Republican leaders. All this irritates people who like to populate the world with irreconcilable enemies and faithfully obedient allies, but after experimenting with this tidy mythical vision, the politicians seem to be trying to fix something rather than trying to fix everything. This is really not a new diplomacy but a return to the old pre-evangelical diplomacy of “make do and mend,” and while it will not transform the world by next Tuesday, it may improve some things and keep people talking about the rest.

“The maintenance of old enmities is not in anybody’s interest,” said President John-

son. “Our aim is a true reconciliation. We must make this clear to the east.” Both the Secretary of State, Mr Dean Rusk, and the President started this process with the Soviet Foreign Minister in Washington several weeks ago. That they made some impression seems evident from the improvement in the diplomatic atmosphere there almost at once.

The purpose of sending America’s most experienced and trusted envoy to Moscow, Llewellyn Thompson, is to carry on this new experiment in diplomatic pragmatism.

It is probably too much to talk about “a true reconciliation,” but some odd-jobs are getting done. The air link between Moscow and the United States will start in the spring. The Communist missions from East Europe are being put on the highest diplomatic level. Congress will be asked to approve the United StatesSoviet consular agreement. Export controls on non-strat-egic trade with the East are to be eased.

The Export-Import Bank henceforth will be permitted to guarantee commercial credits to four additional East European countries —Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Czechaslovakia. So far the initiatives and the concessions have been mainly on the American side. There is more flexibility, but it is a one-way rather than a two-way stretch. Nevertheless, there is movement despite Vietnam which is something.