THE NEEDS OF THE WEST
rinFic West came together under the threat- ' whether real or imagined is immaterial, for it was undoubtedly feared—of Soviet military aggression. The present paradox is that with the Soviet Union militarily more powerful, and realised to be more powerful, than ever she was, the fear of aggression has diminished and the Western alliance is gaping at the seams.
This week's meeting in Paris of the NATO powers will be hard put to it to smooth the feel- ings of the French, still ruffled not only by General Twining's attack, in what ought to have been the privacy of committee, on France's un- cooperative attitude in NATO, but by the calcu- lated indiscretion with which it was revealed to the American press.
President de Gaulle is an awkward customer to have as an ally: ask Sir Winston. But, as the custodian of French pride, he has a real grievance. At present, the power to decide when, how, whence and through whom tactical atomic weapons would be used in the defence of Western Europe (and we have no conventional forces worth mentioning) lies in American hands. General Norstad, who is both Supreme Allied Commander and Commander-in-Chief, United States Forces in Europe, would probably, in a crisis, have time to consult his own government and, possibly, ours. It can hardly be expected that he would be able to make a series of telephone calls, to the French president or to Brussels, the Hague, Ottawa, Ankara and the rest. The Guar- dian has recently advocated a Ministerial Com- mittee, under whom the Allied Commander would act, consisting of an American, a West German, and a French or a British member, or a rota system based on these. It is unlikely that the NATO Council this week will be able even to talk about, let alone set up, such a committee: if President Eisenhower could do some informal talking about such a scheme when he meets the other heads of Western governments at the week- end, it might do much to make the other soldier- president easier to work with.
But, although it is essential that Western Europe should be able to defend itself by military means, should feel that it is able to, and should be seen to be able to, this is not the main problem that faces the West. In so far as Britain, France and the United States and some, at any rate, of their allies, are the guardians of what we loosely call the values of Western civilisation, it is their historic duty to defend those values not only by military means. (As the two young former presi- dents of the Oxford University Conservative Association were well aware when they pointed out in their letter to the Daily Telegraph on Tues- day that 'no one can blame Asians and Africans for the "wicked colonialist" myth if Britain lines up with France and Portugal to vote against con- demning South Africa.') This is why Mr. Dillon's trip to Europe is potentially as important as President Eisen- hower's. Western Europe at present is itself economically ill-organised and riven by resent- ments, and its help to the underdeveloped countries of Africa and Asia is piecemeal, un- planned, and, particularly in Western Germany, grudging. If the underprivileged—and this in- cludes the unemployed of Southern Italy as well as the undernourished of Southern India—are to prefer, and to go on preferring, the political and social machinery of Western democracy to that of Soviet Communism, they must be persuaded that its economic system, too, is at least as efficient.
What is needed is planned aid from the West for Asia and Africa, and an integrated plan for Europe itself into which common market and free trade area can both be fitted. If Mr. Dillon's visit brings either or both of these nearer to fulfil- ment, he will have made President Eisenhower's task this weekend that much more manageable. For his meeting with Mr. Macmillan, General de Gaulle and Dr. Adenauer is in preparation for the bargaining that will take place at the summit (if the summit is to be of any use), and it will be as well that we go to the summit in firm military alliance, economically co-ordinated, and ready to match systems with Mr. Khrushchev where'ver bellies are not filled, and minds not made up.
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