About-Face

To the surprise of almost all concerned, Russia's "new-look" promoters were even able to summon up kind words for the Western powers' Trieste settlement. Though the partition of the territory between Italy and Yugoslavia bluntly disregarded Moscow's insistence on internationalization and a role in Trieste's control, Russia's Andrei Vishinsky notified the Security Council that the Soviet Union "takes cognizance" of the Trieste agreement as one that "will promote . . . normal relations . . . and thus contribute toward a relaxation of tension." In his last words on the subject a year ago, Vishinsky had vowed to veto exactly such a solution, which replaced the peace-treaty provision for U.N.-directed internationalization. The abrupt about-face caught Italy's Reds flatfooted. On the day Vishinsky blessed the Trieste arrangement, Red Deputies in Italy's Chamber called it an "Atlantic sellout."

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