Portrait of the Week
M M ARSHAL BULGANIN and M. Khrushchev have continued their journeyings across India, turning up . late for appointments with a reckless abandon and pausing only to announce that the most powerful hydrogen bomb yet has been exploded in the Soviet Union, a fact which the other countries of the world now being deluged with showers of radio-active dust and rain might just possibly have discovered for themselves. The revelation has, in any case, had a bad press in India, and, at the United Nations, Mr. Krishna Menon was moved to recall that India was opposed to all atom bomb explosions, whether of peace-loving peoples or of warmongering imperialists. The ex-Governor-General of India, Mr. Rajagopalachari, on the other hand, was very much dis- posed to put all the blame on the Americans, who, he said, had turned down the various schemes for the control of atomic armaments suggested to them. However, in spite of this the Russian leaders may have felt that the explosion was rather ill-timed and the reported Russian offer to stop testing bombs if everyone else does comes as a relief to a world which can only afford to have its radio-activity increased just so much. After all this Marshal Bulganin's remark that Goa was a shame to any civilised people tended to be lost in the world's press. It remains to be seen whether the visit of King Saud of Saudi Arabia to New Delhi will be as spectacular. Apparently it will hardly be as jolly, since the full austerity of Wahabite cere- monial is being observed for the occasion.
France, it is hardly necessary to say, is without a govern- ment. The majority by which M. Faure's government was brought down in the National Assembly was four more than was needed for the President to declare the dissolution of the Assembly, but it doe; not seem likely that he or M. Faure would wish to bear the responsibility for causing the country to go to the polls under the present electoral law. Behind the fall of the government is the desire, on the part of the sup- porters of M. Mendes France especially, to avoid having elec- tions until their campaign in the country is fully under way. It now seems possible that a caretaker government will be formed until elections can be held under a revised law. The fall of M. Faure's government comes at a moment when it had just scored a much-needed diplomatic success in the with- drawal of the Algerian question from the agenda of the United Nations. This solution of a thorny problem will allow the French delegation to return to New York and seems to indicate a realisation by Asian and Arab countries that they must not push the colonial powers too far. Much of the negotiation preceding the solution was carried on by the Indian delegate.
However, all world problems are not susceptible of compro- mise. In Cyprus the sorry tale of murder and sabotage con- tinues. It is now thought that terrorists of the extreme Right- wing X group have managed to infiltrate into the island includ- ing the notorious General Grivas. The Colonial Secretary has announced in the House of Commons that Great Britain was seeking a fresh solution of the Cyprus question, but, in spite of a flood of contradictory rumours from Athens, nothing very much has emerged, though an announcement is expected in the near future. In the Middle East frontier incidents have con- tinued in and out of the Gaza strip, while the arbitration offer made by Sir Anthony Eden seems to be finding only modified support even from Colonel Nasser. A deputation from the Labour Party has waited on Mr. Harold Macmillan to express anxiety over the position of Israel. No doubt they will have their say in the debate on the Middle East next week. Oil politics have also been in the news with a new agreement between the Iraqi Petroleum Company and the Syrian Govern- ment, who are to get larger royalties for the use of the pipe-line across their territory. The Buraimi oasis dispute has developed further with a British refusal of a Saudi Arabian suggestion of further arbitration. The Iman of Oman is claiming that British levies have invaded his imanate, but it is not too easy to make out what has happened.
At the United Nations a farcical situation has been produced by the Nationalist Chinese delegate's threat to veto the admis- sion of Outer Mongolia, a step which, if taken, would not only wreck the Canadian plan for the simultaneous admission of eighteen countries, but also make the UN appear more than slightly ridiculous. In East Berlin the Soviet commander, General Dibrova, has declared that he considers his sector of the city as being subject to East German sovereignty, an announcement which should do something to dispel Western qualms about uniting West Berlin with the rest of the Federal Republic. The Pakistani Prime Minister has, not entirely un- expectedly, accused India of establishing a tyranny in Kashmir. At Bonn Dr. Adenauer is back at work and dealing effectively with the Free Democrats, who, under the ebullient Dr. Dehler, have recently been giving some trouble. In Brazil there is a state of siege and in Malaya the biggest battle against the terrorists for some time is now going on. Mr. Dulles has appealed for only constructive criticism of foreign policy in the Presidential campaign, but Democratic memories of Republi- can attacks on Dean Acheson and 'Truman's War' will prob- ably ensure only a limited response to this appeal.
At home the most sensational news has been the raid by armed men on an Ulster police station. The raiders were driven off, but not before a constable had been badly hurt. The raid has caused the Government of Northern Ireland to protest angrily about the inaction of the southern authorities as well as to take elaborate police precautions, including the blocking of roads and the establishment of a speed limit of ten m.p.h. for a mile inside the border. In their turn the government of Southern Ireland have been stirred into sending a commission of high police officers to the border, and it is expected that action against extremist groups may be taken.
In Parliament it was announced that the rates of public assistance are to be increased and the abandonment of the V1000 by RAF Transport Command was defended. A Comet III has flown 3,300 miles non-stop at a speed averaging nearly 500. m.p.h. The biggest failure in years took place over the weekend on the London underground system. The heroin question still seems to preoccupy doctors and those interested in medicine. It is expected that the Government may reconsider the ban, though the pros and cons of the question presumably depend on the advice received from scientists and doctors. The Rolls-Royce strike goes on.
Sportsmen will be saddened to learn that it has been neces- sary to suspend some seventeen racing motorcyclists who sup- ported a demand for an extra 'starting fee' for appearing in the Dutch Grand Prix last July. Also saddening is the news that the Arabian oryx is nearing extinction, while the wild ass or onager has already reached that point. In Paris M. Jerome Carcopino, the Roman historian, has been elected to the vacant seat in the French Academy. A Titian has been sold at Christie's for eleven thousand guineas. The Pentagon pamphlet on 'militant liberty' has been having a mixed reception. The emphasis seems to have been on the word 'militant.' Smithfield porters have registered their objection to the term tummarees' traditionally used to describe them.
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