A Door Left Open

To hear all the talk, Cuba had once again become just one of those balmy-breezed Caribbean isles. In Moscow, Nikita Khrushchev happily declaimed that no-indeed-Cuba-was-not-a-Soviet-defeat. In Paris, at NATO's meetings, allied nations heaped congratulations upon U.S. State Secretary Dean Rusk for the firm American action. In Washington, the Kennedy Administration broke out with holiday grins and congratulations for itself. "Something," exulted one New Frontiersman, "has gone right.''

So something has--up to a point. The Soviet missiles and bombers that were obviously able to carry nuclear war to the U.S. or Latin America have presumably been removed from Cuba. Under U.S. pressure, the shipping of Soviet-furnished supplies of all sorts by NATO-country vessels to Cuba has been cut by more than half. Last week President Kennedy announced that the U.S. would soon issue regulations denying U.S. cargoes and ports of call to shipping companies involved in the Cuba trade.

Yet there is still not even a semblance of on-site inspection to make sure that the U.S.S.R.'s nuclear arsenal has really been taken away and not just hidden from aerial view. There is still no guarantee that another Soviet buildup will not begin. A full division of 10,000 Russian soldiers remains in Cuba, armed with automatic weapons, artillery and antiaircraft missiles --and jeeringly painting their regimental insignia on island boulders to be seen by U.S. reconnaissance flyers.

Russia argues that it has removed all its "offensive" weapons; the U.S. must, therefore, come forth with its guarantee not to invade. Certainly not, retorts the U.S., unless and until all Russian military forces are taken from Cuba and on-site inspections are arranged.

Both sides are preparing statements, to be produced at the United Nations, writing off the whole business as a stalemate. Such a stalemate--with the U.S. obviously coming out ahead in the direct cold-war confrontation--seems to suit some Administration officials fine. Cuba remains a Communist beachhead 90 miles off the U.S.'s southern shore. But the U.S. is continuing--and will keep up--its aerial reconnaissance flights; until its demands are met, it need not pledge against an invasion of Cuba. That keeps things open for future action.

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