Peace in Our Time

At least one of the world's wars ended last week without an intervention by Henry Kissinger. After 15 months of bizarre skirmishing on the high seas, the third cod war between Britain and Iceland (TIME, June 4) was settled quietly in an exchange of notes. The war, which began in September 1972, ended after a total of 65 warp cuttings, 15 naval collisions or bumps involving British trawlers and Icelandic coast guard boats, the firing of 24 rounds of ammunition--live and blank. The peace also ended a threat by Iceland to shut down the NATO base at Keflavik. The breakthrough came last month after a meeting in London between Britain's Prime Minister Edward Heath and Iceland's Prime Minister Olafur Johannesson.

In the end, both sides retreated with some satisfaction. Britain can keep on fishing within Iceland's claimed 50-mile limit, at least until next year, when a U.N.-sponsored conference will redefine the scope of disputed territorial waters round the world. Britain has promised to reduce its total catch to 130,000 tons, 30,000 less than last year's haul. As for Iceland, it clearly felt that the publicity was worth the war in dramatizing the plight of small coastal states dependent on their fisheries for survival.

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