The Resumed Assembly
The resumption of The adjourned Assembly- of the United Nations at New York arouses neither- hopes nor fears, nor even any great, intensity of interest. M. Vyshinsky has thought it worth while to travel to America again; but probably with no more constructive intention than to form personal impressions of President Eisenhower's administration. How far the general American attitude towards the United Nations has changed, if at all, will be disclosed when the new leader of the American delegation, Mr. Cabot Lodge, has made a speech or two. His first utterance, on Wednesday, indicates that it has rather stiffened towards Russia. On Korea the Assembly starts again where it left off—with the Indian plan for the repatriation of prisoners, approved by a large majority of the Assembly, but flatly rejected by both Moscow and Peking. No new line of approach has so far been indicated. In many ways the most important task facing the Assembly is the choice of a successor to the Organisation's first Secretary-General, M. Trygve Lie. The provisions of the Charter governing his election are a little ambiguous, but it appears to be accepted doctrine that the agreement of the five permanent members of the Council to the choice is essential. If there is truth in the report that Mr. Lester Pearson, the Canadian Minister for External Affairs and the President of the present Assembly, would be willing to serve, and that Russia would not oppose his candi- dature, then the United Nations might see a new era opening before it; for Mr. Pearson would be a very nearly ideal Secretary-General. But agreement between Russia and the United States on this or any other subject can be assumed only when it has actually been proclaimed.
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