U.N.O. IN CRISIS
THE leading article under this heading in last week's Spectator has proved only too well justified. It is no use to speak of the United Nations suffering from a certain malaise. It is suffering from something much worse than that. It is not a mere question of Mr. Trygve Lie's resignation or even of Mr. Feller's suicide and the crise de nerfs which those two events have created. It is the conclusion forced on every- one that the United Nations is not only not united, but has '10 visible prospect of being. The rift between the Russian Noc and the rest of the organisation is as wide as ever, and a new rift, fortunately much less serious, has opened between South Africa and an Asiatic group which, not without American encouragement, is endeavouring to interfere in South Africa's domestic affairs. In the last phase of the discussions on this subject, it is fair to say, the United States representative moved a resolution which went no further in the direction of a reflec- tion on South Africa than to re-emphasise the general doctrine of human rights, with special reference to the conditions Prevailing in that Dominion; the ultimate adoption of that Would ease tension. But the fundamental fact is that a society biased on the assumption of sincere co-operation between its principal members cannot function when that co-operation is lacking. The alternative is to change the constitution of the organisation, but that cannot be done in the absence of a ek°, -operation which does not exist. A single Great Power can ,°.1,0ck it indefinitely. This is a grave situation. No one is !,KelY to take the responsibility for breaking up the United Nations, and no one should. But if hopes are frustrated in New York it is the more imperative that they be brought to fulfilment in Europe. If U.N.O. is doomed to be a house divided N.A.T.O. must show itself increasingly a house united. _ 0 far as they can carry their countries with them an immense responsibility rests on M. Schuman and Dr. Adenauer.
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