THE TABLET March 29th. 1958. VOL. 211, No. 6149

THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER & REVIEW

Published as a Newspaper

Pro Ecclesia Dei, Pro Regina et Patria

FOUNDED IN 1840

MARCH 29th, 1958

NINEPENCE

Rushing Grave Decisions : N u c le a r W eapons fo r the G erm ans

The Morality of Nuclear Warfare : An O u tlin e of the Problem . By L. L. McRcavy

Orty Years A-Growing : T h e F ig h te r P ilo t : R e tro spect and Prospect. By John G u rd on

Mercers School : Queen E lizab e th o r O u r L ad y ? By H. W. J. E dw a rd s

Vexilla Regis : The Eclipse o f a Hymn. By S. G. A . Luff

A Visit to Holland: W h a t C atholics Should See

Lenten Meditations M o ab and the T a lk in g Donkey. By Sebastian Bullough, O.P.

Critics’ Columns : Notebook : Book Reviews : Letters : Chess

TALKS IN

AAR. MACMILLAN is said to be anxious to see an end to the letter-writing from Moscow, and for the preparations for summit talks to be made through the Embassies. That is a better way of doing real business. But it is clear that there are considerable advantages in the public exchanges, when they are carried on before all the world. The Western countries have already regained a great deal of ground, in proportion as the Russians have to pass beyond their first broad statements about their desire to get fid of the overshadowing burden which the new warfare brings with it. When they said that, they evoked an answering echo everywhere in a world which has not followed the long-drawn-out, tortuous and hitherto abortive discussions in the Disarmament Committee of the United Nations. But the picture begins to look different as the Russians enumerate their conditions.

It is hard to see why Mr. Dulles chose to use the expression that we “ should lose our shirts ” if we discussed on the Russian terms, for those terms are precisely designed to prevent the imposition of any majority decision, and to make it always possible for Russia to leave uncommitted. But, by the same token, the West could always do the same.

Mr. Dulles points out that it is really unreasonable for the Russians to claim that their satellite States are in any sense the opposite numbers of the Western European countries, but that the Russians have to advance them shows at what a disadvantage they know themselves to be. While they appeal to all the world the last thing they can, in fact, do is to accept majority decisions. When the constitution of the United Nations was framed, at San Francisco in 1945, they carefully secured themselves against that risk, and thereafter constantly invoked the veto. The great advantage they saw in the United

PROGRESS Nations was that their democratic professions would compel America, Britain, and France to make a great place for new as well as for small countries, so that the Afro-Asian bloc would come into existence,, as it has, weakening the colonialism of democratic States without being able to interfere with Soviet Imperialism.

In a sense, it may be said that the summit talks are already on ; th a t a debate of a useful educative kind is being conducted in the hearing of the world ; and it cannot help but clarify the positions of the Great Powers. It is already standing out very clearly on what weak ground the Russians are in relation to th a t unification of Germany which they accepted as a joint objective, although no doubt with the unspoken reservation that any united Germany must be Communist controlled. The Russians can refuse to discuss either Germany or the satellites, but they cannot deny th a t the abnormal situation of both these parts of Europe is a main cause of the tension they profess themselves anxious to relieve. A Shift in Saudi Arabia

Most of the news of what has happened in Saudi Arabia comes from Cairo, and it may prove to carry other implications than those which President Nasser’s radio claims. The transfer of decisive powers to the Crown Prince, who is known to belong to the proEgyptian camp, may very well mark the end of-the tussle for King Saud’s adherence to one or other of the two rival manifestations of Arab unity. I t may very well be that King Saud feels himself no match for the Nasserian propaganda which goes from mouth to mouth, telling his Arab subjects that they can hope for much better things if the alliance of their ruler with Western Imperialist oil interests is swept away and a new democratic regime lays down fresh conditions for the Western interlopers,