UNCIO AND STALIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 133, 7 June 1945, Page 6

UNCIO AND STALIN

CONFERENCE MAY VOTE ON ISSUE

(Official News Service

SAN FRANCISCO, June 5,

Hopes of a settlement of the veto impasse which is holding up the completion of the work of the United Nations Conference seemed today to rest on the direct appeal that is reported to have been made to Stalin to abandon his insistence that each of the Great Powers should be able to prevent disputes being discussed by the security council of the new international organisation.

As has been customary throughout the Conference the news of what delegations of Great Powers are doing outside the Conference takes the form of unofficial newspaper reports, but in the case of such newspapers as the "New York Times," which publishes a special San Francisco edition, these reports have proved to be so accurate as to have seemed to be inspired .rom behind the scenes.

And the "New York Times"- says today, without reservation, that an appeal to Stalin has been decided upon by the United States and Britain and that it will be pointed out to the Soviet leader that unless the right of discussion of disputes is guaranteed in the security council the chances of getting the approval of the Conference for the Yalta voting formula, and of assuring the ratification of the charter, are imperilled. The "New York Times" adds that Mr. Harry Hopkins will be instructed to make it clear that, the United States hopes the veto problem can be resolved before the divergent views on it are placed before the Conference as1 a whole, but that otherwise the American delegation will take the matter to the Conference and abide by the decision of the other nations. PROGRESS MADE. But the veto impasse, critical as it is, has not thrown the Conference into a complete stalemate. Some remarkable progress has been made in the last 24 hours, particularly by the committee dealing with enforcement arrangements, on which Mr. C. A. Berendsen represents New Zealand. The committee has reached agreement on all phases of the security council's authority to determine threats to the peace, or acts of aggression and the kind of action it will be able to take. _ ■ In some respects these provisions represent an improvement over the original Dumbarton Oaks proposals— although it is well to remember that their actual application in the settlement of disputes depends on the use of the Great Powers' right of veto. Briefly, the committee's decisions give to the security council the power to call on the United Nations to apply diplomatic, economic, or other measures short of armed force, in order to settle disputes. If these measures prove inadequate the council can take action with the air, naval, or land forces, which together with other forms of assistance and facilities, including the right of passage, would be made available by special agreement between the council and individual nations or groups of nations. MUST BE RATIFIED. These agreements will be subject to ratification by the nations concerned by the usual constitutional processes (by Parliament in the case of New Zealand) and the nations who make them will have a voice in the decisions as to the manner in which their forces will be employed once the council has decided to take action. So that urgent military, measures should go int6 effect without deiay, the United Nations are to have the nearest equivalent the world has yet known of an international air force. Within the limits of the special agreements already mentioned, the nations will hold national air contingents immediately available for combined action The strengths and state -of i readiness and the plans for their combined action are to be worked out later by the security council and. ihe military staff committee. In these ways, the United Nations have placed on record their conviction that the peace of the world in future must be backed up, not only by willingness, but also by readiness to use force of arms, if need be.