LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Open Covenants
Sta,—Mr. Noel-Baker protests a little too much. His assertion that the Security Council " settled the question of the Berlin blockade after the old diplomacy had failed for months to do so " is historically inaccurate. The new diplomacy was unable to settle anything because of the Soviet veto. Yet it did provide an opportunity for the old diplomacy, in the shape of private discussions between Dr. Jessup and Mr. Malik, to succeed. For it was these talks,which broke the deadlock and led to the eventual raising of the blockade. Again, Mr. Noel- Baker cites as an example of secret diplomacy the meetings earlier this year in Paris of the Foreign Ministers' Deputies. Those who followed the Press reports of these discussions' may have been pardoned fOr thinking that the secrets were singularly ill-kept, and that a little less information about their progress, or rather lack of progress, would have been more helpful to the success of these negotiations.
Much less was heard about the recent private discussions on dis- armament between Russia and the Western Powers; and, despite Mr. Noel-Baker's preference for public debate, I feel sure that these talks have done more for the progress of disarmament than all the previous and subsequent debate in the Assembly's Political Committee.—Yours
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