The Trippers

While talking thaw, the face that Russia presented to the world last week was that of granitic Marshal Rodion Malinovsky brushing off U.S. military capabilities with the scornful jest: "Gentlemen, your arms are too short." The image presented by the free world was that of John Foster Dulles flying from capital to European capital to reconcile overpublicized differences in coping with the Soviet threat to West Berlin.

The Western position was far more coherent and cohesive than it appeared in the writings of the free world's journalistic pundits. The U.S., Britain. France and West Germany are united in their resolution not to surrender Berlin, and agreed that the only acceptable German reunification would be the creation of a single German state free to keep its association with the West. The underlying ideas are firm; what Dulles & Co. are seeking is "tactical flexibility."

Irate Denial. According to some press accounts, the U.S. and Britain could not agree on what to do in the event of a new Berlin blockade. Columnist Joseph Alsop's declaration that the British were reneging on the idea of sending an armored column through to Berlin, even as a last resort, brought British Ambassador to Washington Sir Harold Caccia hustling into the State Department with a hard denial that Britain had done any such thing. Soviet radar jamming devices now all but rule out an easy repetition of the electronics-backed Berlin airlift, but the British feel that public discussion of blockade-busting devices should be confined to airlift talk. Behind the scenes, the British government has agreed in principle to the use of an armored column if necessary; in return, the U.S. has scaled down the size of the ground forces it originally contemplated using if necessary to keep open the supply routes to West Berlin. Britain and the U.S. agreed to discuss a thinning out of NATO troops if the Russians thin out theirs in East Germany. Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Fire & Water. As is inevitable among equal partners, everybody had his own emphasis. Charles de Gaulle, anxious to strengthen his ties with West Germany, argued that it would look like a surrender to Russia's six-month ultimatum if the Western allies suggested any date at all for a big power conference on Germany, and felt that the British were in too great a hurry to talk to the Soviets.

In Bonn Dulles found Konrad Adenauer willing to appear flexible but skeptical of making any substantial concessions to Russia. In particular, Adenauer is wary of anything that smacks of "confederation,'1 the Russian scheme to link East and West Germany by loose federal institutions. Asks Adenauer scornfully: "Can fire and water confederate?"

"Godspeed." The man who managed to look most flexible of all was Britain's Harold Macmillan. To a crowded House of Commons last week, Macmillan dramatically announced that he and Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd would fly off to Moscow Feb. 21 for a ten-day state visit. In Paris Macmillan's decision aroused grumbles that this was an odd time for a British Prime Minister to decide to accept an invitation which the Soviets first extended to Sir Anthony Eden 2 1/2 years ago. But U.S. leaders raised not a peep. Having just played host to Mikoyan, they were scarcely in a position to complain. And they felt no need to.

Macmillan has not seen Russia since a tourist visit in 1929. He hoped to be able to provide the West with a clearer understanding of Soviet intentions. "I will not be going to Moscow to conduct a negotiation," he emphasized, "but something perhaps in the nature of a reconnaissance."

Well in the forefront of Macmillan's mind, however, were the domestic political advantages of a mission to Moscow. Recent polls show his Tory Party trailing Labor in popularity for the first time in eight months; unemployment, which stands at 531,000, has hurt the Conservatives. Any kind of a diplomatic success would give him a talking point should he decide to call a general election before the end of the year. In the House of Commons the universal good-natured reaction to news of Macmillan's Moscow trip was expressed by Labor M.P. Jean Mann. Said Mrs. Mann: "May I thank the Prime Minister, wish him Godspeed and ask him the date of the election?"

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