Portrait of the Week
EASTER has come and gone without, apparently, making much difference to the march of unpleasant events in the • Holy Land or indeed any- where else. The Jordanian crisis after lurching into a new phase with the choice of Dr. Khalidi as Premier and the exile of the old Chief of Staff in favour of a less rabid nationalist shows every sign of going back to its old course. First the new Chief of Staff, after a hasty departure for Damascus, went over to the other side and professed to have discovered a Right-wing plot under the sinister leadership of the palace; then the new Foreign Secretary, Mr. Nabulsi, formerly the Left-wing Prime Minister, threw out some unpleasant re- marks about foreigh missions which interfered in the internal affairs of the country; finally the United Arab Front (which used to be the Nabulsi coalition) appears to have presented Dr. Khalidi with an ultimatum demanding, among other things, the return of the Nabulsi Government, the expulsion of the American Ambassador, the re- jection of the Eisenhower doctrine and the re- instatement of the exiled army officers. This was followed by riots and a general strike.
At the same time there were reports of Russian military and air instructors arriving in Syria and a pronouncement, a pro pos the new Persian- Soviet border agreement, that 'Russia has vital interests in the Middle East.' These interests are probably also the cause of what appears to be a new Russian peace drive. The first move was the paradoxical one of exploding five large nuclear weapons in Siberia, the last of which, according to most experts, was specially designed to produce the maximum outfall of radioactive dust. The second was the dispatch of notes to the Western Powers calling for a joint manifesto condemning the use of force in the Middle East. And the third the publication, without previous agreement, of some 'letters which passed between Sir Anthony Eden and Mr. Bulganin just before the Suez land- ings—Mr. Bulganin, as might be expected, com- plained about British and French preparations for the use of force, to which Sir Anthony protested, as he had in the House of Commons, that Britain was seeking a peaceful settlement. Now comes another of Mr. Bulganin's billets doux, this time to Mr. Macmillan, pleading for the renunciation of force in the Middle East and setting out his admiration for the 'industrious British people.'
Egypt has at last published the terms on which she intends to operate the Canal. The Americans have asked for a meeting of the Security Council on Thursday to take note of the question. An American ship has gone through the Canal.
Archbishop Makarios has been feted in Athens and invited to New York by Governor Harriman. Both these gestures have been bitterly criticised by the Turkish Government. The Communist Party conference finished its deliberations in costive solidarity. The Co- operative Party's heart-searchings were more real, involving frightful differences on relations with the Labour Party and the banning of the British nuclear tests. Mayflower II has sailed for the New World after ridding herself of a stowaway; Lord lsmay and Lord Middleton have been made Knights of the Garter; an English footballer has been bought by an Italian club for more than £50,000; a French playwright has been excluded from the performance of his own play in London.
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