NEWS OF THE WEEK
4t T = T E must not," said Mr. Bevin on Monday, " leave things to chance again." He was referring to the improvisation which went on in June to mobilise the United Nations to recognise and deal with a case of actual aggression, and the diplomatic and military weak- nesses of the United Nations which the Korean incident showed up. The actual measures for future preparedness which he contemplates were not obvious ; Mr. Bevin has never been much of a coiner of the pregnant phrase, and it was a little difficult to discover from his speech how far the British Government intends to go along with the various remedial measures which have been suggested recently by Mr. Acheson. Mr. Bevin declared his support " for the bjectives " of the measures proposed for strengthening the United Nations' machinery, but hinted that they would later be subject to "constructive criticism," without giving an indication of the form this criticism is likely to take. On the question of Germany he had even less to contribute, and on the question of Japan nothing at all. It is perhaps unfair to look for too much from a speech of this sort, when private discussions covering the same ground have been going on between the three Foreign Ministers and the delegates of the North Atlantic Treaty Council ; but since the parallel dis- cussions are now at an end, Mr. Bevin might have been expected to tell something of the results which they have achieved. Mr. Acheson, at least, has been specific in his public pronouncements. He has suggested three spheres in which concerted action can be taken to forestall another act of aggression ; in the United Nations, in Europe and in Japan. All his proposals call for the commitment of American troops for-specific purposes ; they would also involve a considerable revival in the independence and strength of Germany and Japan. Mr. Bevin failed to make it clear whether the British Government supports the implications as well as the objectives of the Acheson policy, or whether it has in fact yet to make up its mind about them.
