The Fifth Session
There are 73 items on the agenda of the General Assembly of the United Nations which began its work at Lake Success this week ; many of these, including perennials like Kashmir and the relations between Israel and her neighbours, would at any other time com- mand the limelight. In this session however there are two issues which could provide the key to success or failure ; one is the demand of Communist China for membership and the other is the chance that the machinery of the United Nations may be called on to arrange terms of pease for the war in Korea. Both these questions are aspects of the cold war, and in both there is no sign of agreement in Western strategy. It is by no means impossible that during this session the United Nations will be called upon to make terms for ending the Korean war, and in that case the West must agree on its minimum military and political objectives and on the guaran- tees necessary for their enforcement. Whatever they are, it is hard to see how they can be arrived at without reference to the Peking Government and, this being so, what benefit it is to the United Nations that this government is not represented at Lake Success. It was most unfortunate that the first day of the session should have been devoted to displaying Western inconsistencies over China. These inconsistencies will show up even more glaringly when the moment comes for the United Nations to make the difficult switch-' over from arms to diplomacy in Korea.
