CHANGE OF FRONT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22200, 10 December 1946, Page 5

CHANGE OF FRONT

SOVIET DIPLOMACY

SURPRISE CONCESSIONS

END OF STONEWALLING? (9 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 9. •‘This remarkable week" is how The Economist refers to the latest trends in international affairs. Referring to signs of a more accommodating temper by the Russians, it ooints out that they have abandoned, one after another, many of the positions which thev have held with the utmost tenacity since this dreary business of peacemaking opened in London in the autumn of 1945. The Russians agreed on Trieste, on reparations to be paid to Greece and Yugoslavia by Italy and Bulgaria, abandoned support of the Bulgarian frontier claim against Greece and agreed to an international conference to discuss a future statute for the Danube. They admitted the principle of international inspection of disarmament and even suggested they may be willing to waive the veto on this issue. Economic Weakness.

"The coincidence of Russian concessions is too striking to be dismissed lightly,” says The Economist. “Although it is not to be thought that the aims of Russian policy have changed—they are concerned, as arc those of other Powers with the defence of national interests —it is clear that more conciliatory tactics have replaced the old stonewalling.

“This may be due to the Russians’ economic weakness. This year's harvests are poor and eastern Europe is economically and politically a drain. But it may be equally due to the traditional methods of Russian diplomacy in which bargaining is pressed to the uttermost limit until it is clear that their ooponents will not budge another inch. Then, at this point, concessions—often surprising concessions—are made, “M. Molotov may at last have become convinced that neither Mr. Bevin nor Mr. Brynes would give' way further, Accordingly, he ‘surrendered.’ ”

The Economist remarks that if in the next weeks, M. Molotov's ability to say “no” ceases to dominate the international scene, Mr. Bevin and Mr. Brynes must have a clear idea of what are their policies. It suggests that if Russian policy is about to change and become more conciliatory, a re-examin-ation of the policies of the Western Powers is all the more essential.