NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE persistent pressure exercised by Yugoslavia at Paris con- cerning the settlement of Trieste, the invitation to Albania to attend the Conference and the restriction of the rights of Greece had not succeeded in producing any major international tension. But the shooting down of American aircraft just inside Yugoslav territory has already led to a sharp protest by the United States and a threatened appeal to the Security Council of the United Nations. The existence of such an atmosphere can hardly fail to affect nego- tiations in Paris. To the four separate drafts on Trieste already considered by the Council of Foreign Ministers, Yugoslavia has proposed to add a fifth. Whether any of the Big Four are in the mood to consider further proposals that upset an agreement so hardly won is doubtful. Certainly the deplorable tactics employed by Yugoslavia to;enforce her views will not encourage either America or Great Britain to make further concessions. Nor is the Soviet certain to be more accommodating. With Yugoslavia already firmly on her side her main interest now lies in strengthening her position in Italy and further support for Yugoslavian aspirations at the latter's expense would lose her the support even of the Italian Communists who are Italians first and communists afterwards. The present pro- posals for Trieste while pleasing none do satisfy the minimum demands of all—even Yugoslavia when she examines them in a more reasonable frame of mind. Economically the port is of more impor- tance to Central Europe than to either Italy or Yugoslavia. What is at stake in Trieste is not so much the local ethnic or economic con- siderations—though these cannot be divorced from the main problem —but whether the Communist-Slav bloc shall have a footing in a great port in the Adriatic. Even the outrageous conduct of the Yugoslav authorities in shooting down American aircraft must be kept in its proper perspective. There is more in the Trieste question than the latest ebullition of a highly nationalistic small power.
