Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

coexistence."Current EventsBy Prof. William H. Russell, Ph.D.WESTERN EUROPEAN UNIONAfter an historic week of meetings in Paris, the Westernpowers worked out a plan for integrating West Germany intothe Atlantic alliance. Four different agreements were involved.Britain, France, and the U. S. will grant West Germany fullsovereignty, reserving only the right to station troops therefor the defense of the free world. An expanded Brussels Treatygroup, to be known as the Western European Union, will control German rearmament. Germany is invited to join theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization and supply twelve divisions to its armed forces. But unanimous consent of all sevenPROGRESS IN EGYPTEgypt and Great Britain have signed the treaty underwhich the British will withdraw from the Suez Canal zone.The last of the 80,000 British troops at the base will leaveby June, 1956. The company which operates the canal will remain under French administration according to its original99-year concession, but this expires in 1968 and Egypt willthen have complete control of the canal. The only state todislike the Suez pact is Israel, which fears that Egypt willbecome more aggressive. The general hope, however is thatthe agreement will lead to closer ties with the West.members of W. E. U. will be required before any of them canincrease their militarycontributions! to NATO. France thushas a check on German military expansion.The final agreement which made the others possible wasbetween France and Germany regarding the Saar, the vitalcoal and iron area which lies between them. The two countriesdecided that the Saar would be governed bya neutral commissioner named by W. E. U. The people of the Saar will hold aplebescite on this agreement, but once it is approved theycannot agitate against it. The French will continue to dominate the Saar's coal, iron, and steel industries. The West German Parliament will not like this arrangement, but it is believed that Chancellor Adenauer has enough strength to secureits ratification. All the countries involved must ratify theParis agreements through their parliaments, but no great difficulty is expected, and the prospects of Western unity are thebest we have seen in several years.RUSSIAN SIDETRACKOne measure of Western diplomatic success is the Russian reaction. Immediately after the London agreement, theSoviets proposed new UN talks on disarmament, withoutdisclosing their specific terms. A Disarmament Commissionwill be created, consisting of Russia, Britain, France, Canada,and the U. S. Then, when it became apparent that the Parisconferences would succeed, Molotov made a new move onGerman unification. He called for a Big Four conference within a month to discuss common problems, including Germany.For the first time, the Russians seemed willing to considerfree elections. Russia has never yet made anygenuine concessions at a Big Four conference, and we doubt whether sheintends to now. Her actual objective probably is to delay German rearmament by arousing new hopes of reunification anddisarmament.ASIATIC LEADERS MEETIndia's Prime Minister Nehru has paid a visit to Peiping,causing considerable concern to Western diplomats. Betweenthem, India and China have two-fifths of the world's population and can determine the destinyof Asia. Chou En-laivisited India on his way home from the Geneva conference,but Nehru had never been in China before. He was given agreat welcome at Peiping and conferred with Mao Tse-tungas well as Chou. No doubt the Chinese tried to bolster Nehru'shopes of "peacefulThe talks probably alsodealt with future southeast Asia, for Nehru visited all thecountries of that area on his way to and from Peiping.Nehru still claims to be neutral, but he appears far morewilling to trust the Communists than the western democracies.Krishna V. Menon, India's U. N. representative and a personal friend of Nehru, is bitterly anti- Western.Our government has already begun planning the economicaid which we promised if Egypt would settle the Suez difficulty. Egypt has asked for $100 million for next year, but willprobably get less. The projects for which she wants financialaid include irrigation and land reclamation, oil drilling, railroad and highway construction, production of chemical fertilizer, and the establishment of iron and steel, sugar, and paper industries. The greatest project is the Aswan Dam, whichwould irrigate two million acres and generate one millionkilowatts of electrical power, twelve times Egypt's presentsupply.DOLLARS ABROADOur country is shipping 30,000 tons of wheat to Turkeyto relieve a critical bread shortage. Turkey ordinarily exportswheat; but this year's crop in central Anatolia was almost atotal failure, and the Turks will need about 600,000 tons ofgrain to make up the shortage. We will probably send moregrain later, under the plan which the last Congress adopted fordisposing of agricultural surpluses.It is not always easy to give wisely. Burma has warnedthat if we "dump" surplus grain in the Orient to assist needynon-Communist countries, she may be forced to establisheconomic ties with Red China. Burma depends on rice asher main export and has 700,000 tons unsold from this year'scrop, with next year's surplus expected to be even larger.India, Japan, and Ceylon are normally her best customers.American officials say that our surpluses will go only tocountries which cannot afford to buyket.grain on the open marThe U. S. has agreed to increase its aid to Pakistan toabout$155 million this fiscal year. This is about three timesthe amount given last year. Two-thirds will go for economicassistance, and the rest for military aid. Premier Yoshida ofJapan, who has been visiting western Europe, will arrive inWashington early in November to present his country's needs.TIRED AIRPLANESAfter an exhaustive investigation, British scientists haveconcluded that the mysterious crashes of "Comet" jet air-liners were due to metal fatigue. Under the strain of the internalpressure used when cruising at high altitudes, the metal ofthe plane's cabin weakened and finally burst in mid-air. Toestablish this fact, thousands of fragments were recoveredfrom the bottom of the sea where a Comet crashed off theisland of Elba last January. Sabotage, crew failure, and designfaults were all eliminated as possible causes. The nature andcauses of "metal fatigue" are still not well understood, andthere is no remedy immediately apparent. The problem is aserious one because it presumably will affect other jet transports.November 3, 1954275