A time for modest silence
The affair of the uss 'Pueblo' is only the latest of many indications that President Johnson's administration is unwillingly em- broiled in the Far East in a conflict whose scope it is unable to control and whose out- come cannot be predicted with confidence. It is neither more nor less disturbing than the gradual extension of the Vietnam war tO embrace Laos; and it is as yet too early to say whether it arose from a calculated act of provocation by the North Koreans or whether on the contrary, it shows that us intelligence services have still not been brought under proper governmental control.
It is a moot point which of the various British reactions to the affair has been the more depressing: the hysterical comparisons in some sections of the press with the Cuban missile crisis; the predictable Foreign Office denunciation of North Korean piracy on the high seas (who in Whitehall on Wednesday had any idea whether the 'Pueblo' was inside territorial waters when it was seized or not?); or the pathetic attempt by Mr Wilson in Moscow to clamber in upon the act.
So far as is known, neither the Italian nor the Swiss federal government has felt it necessary to pass judgment on the 'Pueblo' incident or to offer its services as mediator or messenger. At least until it has shown itself capable of managing our own domestic concerns With some degree of competence it would surely be more becoming in the ' Labour government to-follow their example.
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