12 JUNE 1947, Page 2

The International Force

The important speech made by Sir Alexander Cadogan at the Security Council on Tuesday on the Military Staff Committee's recent report on an international force makes the best of what must be recognised to be a thoroughly unsatisfactory business. The United Nations Charter provides that all Members of the Organisa- tion shall hold ready at call forces to be used in case of necessity on behalf of the Organisation at the behest of the Security Council, and the Military Staff Committee is charged with drawing up the necessary plans for their use. This, after prolonged delay, it has at last partially succeeded in doing—only partially because of Russia's. usual inability to agree with the other Great Powers represented on the Committee. The disagreement concerns matters much more important than mere detail, but the really serious problem is created by the existence of the veto, which means that a United Nations Force can never be used against a State which a single•Great Power, e.g., Russia, decides it shall not be used against. The conclusion drawn from that is that the Force can only be used against small States, but even that cannot be assumed, for a Great Power could veto its use against a small State which happened to be its protégé. On the general question Sir Alexander Cadogan makes the point that forces earmarked for the United Nations could in fact be used against a Great Power, for if aggression was committed by such a Power, though the forces in question could not be used against it by U.N.O., there would be nothing to prevent the States contributing them from employing them (and possibly still larger contingents of their own forces as well) collectively to, restrain the aggressor ; Article 51 of the Charter seems specifically to authorise that. This is, no doubt, legally correct, and it is very desirable to dispel the idea that veto by a single Power can frustrate completely all plans for collective defence. But that does not alter the fact that the possible exercise of the veto in such a matter is a very serious blow to confidence in the United Nations.