The Battle of Berlin
The most conspicuous feature of the Russian interferences with traffic between West Germany and Berlin is that they have gone on for years and show no signs of stopping. Possibly the present bout of obstruction, which has led to the familiar tangle of waiting vehicles at the check-point at Helmstedt, will end as it began, and as other similar bouts have begun and ended, without explanation or apology from the Russians. Already there are signs that the Russians may be influenced, tem- porarily, by the usual protests from the American, British and French authorities. But there is not the slightest reason to believe that they will be influenced permanently. Russian meddling with the flow of traffic to and from the West has gone on now for seven years, reaching its peak in the blockade of 1948-49 and never quite abandoning the officious and time- wasting scrutiny of documents which has cost hauliers and passengers millions of pounds. Any merely temporary expedient is of no real use at all. It only ensures that the Russians will still be able to continue their game of cat-and- mouse when they choose. It is this fact which made this week's demand by the West Berlin haulage firms that they should be given subsidies and other forms of assistance to enable them to carry on a business which is ceasing to pay worse than useless. It could amount to an invitation to the Russians to go on with interference on the present infamous scale and to the hauliers to cease to protest, since they would be getting their money anyway. It is to be hoped that their negotiations with the Berlin Senate, which have so far averted a transport strike, will not end with some such pointless palliative.
