Deviating Into Sense ?
The Soviet Union's devotion to the cause of peace has for a long time been expressed in words utterly unrelated to. and indeed frequently contradicted by, its deeds. The slightest deviation from this monotonous but hallowed roptine was bound to attract interest, and it is not surprising that recent deviations have stirred considerable speculation. The gift-- made before M. Stalin's death—of a substantial sum to the Flood Relief Fund was the more welcome for being unexpected, and Moscow's generosity was later emulated by Peking. Mote potentially significant, because more directly related to politi4s, was the tone of General Chuikov's reply to the British protest about the shooting down of an R.A.F. Lincoln in Germany; it could not, be called accommodating, let alone apologetic. but it was less truculent and unreasonable than might have been expected. Hard on the heels of this desiccated and vestigial olive twig came M. Molotov's offer to intervene with the North Korean authorities on behalf of a group of diplo- matic and other civilian internees who have been in their hands since the fighting started. To build on these scraps of evidence the theory that M. Malenkov may be moving towards a general détente would be foolish in the extreme. There is plenty of room for Russia to modify—and gain some sympathy in the process—the habitual boorishness of her international conduct without swerving by a hair's breadth from her ultimate purposes. These (whatever they may be) are more likely tole attained from behind a façade of reasonableness than by the continuous and rather idiotic display of bad manners to which we are accustomed. Further developments along these lints,' if there are any, will be scrutinised by sensible people in a spirit of analysis rather than in a roseate haze of hope.
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