Disarmament Efforts
The new Western proposals for disarmament deserve closer consideration than it seems, from Mr. Malik's first comments, they are likely to receive from the Russians. The three Western Powers propose that the armed forces of the United States, Russia and China should be limited to 1,500,000 men each, and that Britain and France should be limited to 700,000 , and 800,000 men respectively. Once this initial stage had been agreed to, it is suggested, a conference of the Great Powers should be held to decide the distribution of these forces, the armaments to be allowed them, and how all forces and arms in excess of the permitted maxima should be disposed of. In addition, provision should be made for the elimination of weapons of mass destruction and for the prohibition of atomic weapons. The setting up of the Dis- armament Comnlission, to which the new proposals have been presented, was in itself a considerable achievement of the last General Assembly in Paris, and although the Russians have declared themselves critical of its terms of reference they 'have in, theory been prepared to work with it. But in spite of one or two minor concessions, there is still no sign that Russia intends to retreat from her original suggestion that disarma- ment should begin with a one-third reduction of armaments all round—a suggestion which is still obviously unacceptable to the West. Moreover, at the General Assembly last January Mr. Vyshinsky bracketed the Russian proposals for disarma- ment with various other demands, including the abrogation of the North Atlantic Treaty and the withdrawal of foreign troops from Korea, which could hardly be interpreted as a serious Russian desire to reach agreement. But the latest Western proposals are specifically presented only as a basis for discus- sion, and as such they can hardly be rejected. In view, of the Russian attitude to atomic weapons, as stated last January, it seems as though this aspect of disarmament at least is one on which further discussion might conceivably be profitable.
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