ASIA: Soothing Syrup

The confused and confusing war in Laos last week swiftly brought the great powers of the world together at the United Nations. At stake: What sort of response to make to Laos’ appeal for help in fighting off the Communists of North Viet Nam? Ever since the Korean war, a succession of Russian nyets has prevented the Security Council from acting in the quick, decisive manner envisioned for it in the U.N. Charter. Last week once again the Soviet Union, playing for time that would enable Red invasion force to overthrow the government of Laos, was ready to veto any proposed U.N. action. But this time U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge came up with a surprise. Months ago he had ordered his staff to pore through the thousands of pages of Security Council proceedings in search of a model for a veto-proof resolution. Owing to Lodge’s foresight, the U.S. was ready when the Laotian case unexpectedly came before the Council.

Acting under Article 29 of the U.N. Charter, Lodge called for the creation of a “procedural” subcommittee of inquiry, rather than for an “investigating” group that would be substantive and thus subject to the veto. On the Bandwagon. Cleared in advance with all Council members except the Soviet Union, the Lodge resolution passed 10-1.

Then Security Council President Egidio Ortona of Italy ruled that Russia’s negative vote did not constitute a legitimate veto. In other days such a threat to the one great Soviet weapon over the U.N. would certainly have unleashed a torrent of Russian invective. As it was, Russian Delegate Arkady Sobolev contented himself with patently pro forma protests. Two days later came even more dramatic evidence of Nikita Khrushchev’s determination not to rock the boat: an evenhanded announcement by Tass that “leading quarters” in Moscow would like to see Red China settle its border disputes with India without any more “deplorable” frontier incidents. This soothing syrup had its effect. Grudgingly, Red China’s Premier Chou En-lai tacked onto a harsh letter to India’s Nehru (see below} a suggestion for a “negotiated” settlement of their problems. Mystery & Muscle. At week’s end a 60-man United Nations team, led by diplomats from Japan, Italy, Argentina and Tunisia, was en route to Laos to try and unravel the mystery of just what is happening there. Observers on the spot are not sanguine. They despair of anything clear-cut being learned in puzzling, battle-torn Laos itself, and they cannot conceive of the Communists, allowing the U.N. subcommittee access to any of the territory they hold. If the U.N. fails, there will remain only the SEATO powers for Laos to turn to. Though not a member of the alliance, Laos is entitled under the SEATO treaty to claim its aid, and the SEATO nations of Thailand and the Philippines argue that if Laos falls, they, too, will soon feel the weight of Communist aggression. But if force is needed to meet force, the bulk of SEATO’s muscle will have to be supplied by the U.S. Seventh Fleet. How effective the Seventh Fleet’s nuclear-age weapons would be in the guerrilla fighting that plagues Laos is arguable, but at week’s end, with leaves canceled for U.S. ground and air force units based in Okinawa, U.S. Commander in Chief in the Pacific Admiral Harry Felt confidently declared: “We are prepared to act quickly, but we earnestly hope our considerable strength will serve as a deterrent to aggression.”