The Gisborne Herald IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES." GISBORNE, MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1949 MINISTERIAL CHANGES IN SOVIET UNION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22888, 7 March 1949, Page 4

The Gisborne Herald IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES." GISBORNE, MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1949 MINISTERIAL CHANGES IN SOVIET UNION

TJNLESS the Kremlin takes the world into its confidence—a most unlikely departure from “iron curtain” policy—comment on the Russian ministerial changes will, continue to be uncertain and speculative until the effects of the reshuffle are actually felt in international relationships. In regard to the replacement of Mr. Molotov as Foreign Minister, opinions range from the theory that he has been promoted to become Marshal Stalin’s right-hand man, and therefore the future supreme head of all the Soviets, to The thought that he has been demoted in order to make way for a master of bombast and invective, Mr. Vyshinsky, who may be expected to infuse more punch and drive into Communist campaigning for world domination. This latter conception is based on the fact that Molotov, although he has had an unbroken reign as Foreign Minister since fateful .1039, is looked upon more as a shaper of policy than as a practical man for carrying it out. Vyshinsky, on the other hand, has a name for getting things done if he is given the power to go ahead. In Whitehall there appears to be unanimity on the point that a change of policy is indicated. It will he some time before an inkling is given of the form the change will take, but, if it is true that Vyshinsky favours a settlement of the Berlin crisis, that fact alone will afford some compensation for any possible intensification of political aggression be may contemplate in other directions. Even if the future aims of communism incorporate trouble-making infiltration in the Far East and the Middle East, and indeed in any place where Iho opportunity arises, agreement over the foolish Berlin impasse would go a long way towards stabilising conditions in Germany and in Europe as a whole. In that event, it would be permissible to entertain the hopeful long-term view that a better understanding between Russia and the Western Powers is a possibility. It is known that the Kremlin is seriously worried over the Soviet failure to oust the Western Allies from Berlin and would he relieved if a solution could be found of existing problems there. The ministerial reshuffle could be one method of effecting this with at, least some semblance of the allimportant face-saving technique. Although the wider horizon is not so clear when it is considered that Mr. Mikoyan, a Minister of Foreign Trade who was regarded as the “most European” of the Russian leaders in outlook, has been replaced by a presumably more nationalistic man in the person of Mr. Menshikov, any tendency to place the grimmest construction upon the reshuffle should be avoided. Even the elevation of Mr. Gromyko, another firebrand, to Chief Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in replacement of Mr. Vyshinsky need not be regarded as ominous. In spite of their vociferousness, both Vyshinsky and Gromyko are still strongly interested, as far as is known, in the vital business of the United Nations. As long as Russia remains in the United Nations there is hope of permanent peace and an end to the armaments race.