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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, Dec. 2, 1964
U.N. Crisis
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE UNITED NATIONS by its members are due in December. Russia has not paid contributions for the two previous years and has said that it has no intention of paying this year's contribution. According to the UN Charter, any nation which is three years behind in contributions must lose its vote in the General Assembly.
The UN's action concerning Russia's unpaid bill may determine the further existence of the UN.
The importance of Russia being a voting member of the UN can be seen in the simple fact that Russia and the United States are the two opposing poles that all the other nations of the world are dispersed between. The UN exists to iron out the differences of the major powers and calm down the disputes of the smaller nation members. While conflicts of interest between the Russians and the Americans are rarely put to a vote in the General Assembly, the UN is nevertheless a common meeting ground for the two super-powers.
RUSSIA'S DECISION NOT TO MAKE the required contribution is based on diplomatic reasons rather than economic. Russia can well afford the yearly contribution of 1.4 million dollars, but does not pay because it feels that it should not have to help support an organization which performs some actions that Russia cannot condone.
This lack of interest in the world organization due to extreme nationalistic orientation has spelled doom for two other world organizations. Unlike the UN, the Holy Alliance (a branch of which was known as the Quadruple Alliance) and the League of Nations were based on concepts that were not attractive to all the leading powers. The Holy Alliance was started in 1815 by two emperors and a king who agreed that their nations would deal with each other in only the best of Christian manners. They invited the other European powers to sign the pact, and only three leaders declined to sign. The Holy Alliance members were bound to certain vague principles for no well-defined end. The Quadruple Alliance "consisted of definite treaties concluded for definite purposes, chiefly the preservation of peace on the basis of the settlement of 1815."
THE TREATIES THAT GREW out of the Quadruple Alliance meetings were usually among small groups within the Alliance rather than being universally binding on all members. The Holy Alliance was never very successful, although the signers of the pact were also the same combination of Great Powers by which Europe was being ruled. The leaders of the Quadruple Alliance (Russia, Austria, and Prussia) helped to keep the peace in Europe until the middle of the 19th century. The combination Holy Alliance and Quadruple Alliance was considered a world organization in the loose sense of the words because the alliance kept peace only in Europe.
The League of Nations had a much larger membership, a rougher road and a shorter life. The league's text was settled on April 1919, and the league came into force on January 10, 1920. Instead of religious precepts as in the case of the Holy Alliance, the league was tied to the Peace Treaty of Versailles and to revenge against Germany. The league's biggest backer was President Woodrow Wilson, who conceived the league as being the world organization that would secure everlasting peace in the world.
THE LEAGUE MEANT DIFFERENT things to different nations: England and France saw it as a control on Germany; Germany saw it as a symbol of Germany's defeat; most nations saw it as the possible government of world peace; and the United States didn't see it at all.
The general propositions set out by the league were similar to those of the present United Nations; collective security, arbitration, economic and social co-operation, reduction of armaments and open diplomacy. In total, some 65 nations joined the league. The first major turning point for the league came in September of 1931, when Japan (a league member) attacked the Chinese authorities of Manchuria (not a member). The league sent in an investigation team, and the team reported that Japan had committed aggression. Japan withdrew from the league after the report.
Diplomatic sanctions were first imposed by the league. Japan ignored the diplomatic isolation of the league members. The league then passed mild economic sanctions which never became effective. Shortly after the economic sanctions were
beginning to be felt in Japan, the league conceded that Manchuria was lost to Japan and the economic sanctions were lifted.
PART OF THE EXPLANATION for the league's lack of action was that Manchuria was not a member of the league and therefore was not really a member of the collective security pact. The league's members did not have to wait long for the next test of the league's strength. Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1933, and after much league indecision, Italy annexed Ethiopia in 1934. Both Ethiopia and Italy were members of the league, yet the leaders of the league did not want to impose any heavy economic sanctions on Italy in hopes that Italy might still side with France and England against the rising Nazi state. Once the league members had allowed an obvious disregard of the league's rules to go unpunished, the league ceased to be considered as a serious force in world power. After seeing the pitiful actions of the league against Italy and Japan, Germany's Nazis saw that the league was no longer an obstacle.
The UN was not based on any religious or revenge aspects; it was based on the common hope for world peace through world government.
RUSSIA'S FAILURE TO PAY its fair share shows a lack of respect for complying with the UN Charter. Russia's overdue bill could be seen as the real test of the UN's strength. Russia's financial actions for these three years have been watched anxiously by many nations.
Many of the nations of the UN are doing all that is possible to prevent a vote from being taken by the General Assembly. Once a vote is called for, Russia's right to vote will be called into question.
When the question confronts the UN members, there are only two choices that can be considered.
The members of the UN could decide to change the charter sufficiently to allow Russia to retain a vote even though behind in its contributions. This change would be a major reversal of the UN's economic plan. The UN would lose much respect in the eyes of all the member nations for allowing one of the members to flagrantly disregard the economic rules of the UN.
IF THE MEMBERS OF THE UN decide to withdraw Russia's vote in the General Assembly, the UN will be a little less representative of the world governments and thus be less effective as a provider of world peace.
Winston S. Churchill gave advice to the United States for this situation in a speech March 5, 1946, in Fulton, Missouri. The UN was one year old. In his talk, "The Sinews of Peace," he described a general policy that may be as applicable next month as it was 18 years ago:
"... From what I have seen of our Russian friends and Allies during the war, I am convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than for weakness, especially military weakness. ... If the Western Democracies stand together in strict adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter, their influence for furthering those principles will be immense and no one is likely to molest them. If however they . . . are allowed to slip away then indeed catastrophe may overwhelm us all."
BY NOT PAYING ITS CONTRIBUTION to the UN, Russia is testing the strength of the UN members' firmness to stand on the principles set forth in the UN Charter. If the UN falters in the face of the coming contest with Russia, we may have to find another avenue to world peace. Let us hope that the UN will not have to go the same road as its predecessor, the League of Nations.
— T. S. Moore
(Editor's Note: The UN General Assembly is now meeting and conducting some business under an agreement, engineered by Secretary-General U Thant, that only matters than can be disposed of without objection will be raised. This temporary no-voting agreement has eased the possibility of an immediate U.S.-Russia confrontation. Meanwhile Dean Rusk, secretary of state, and Andrei Gromyko, Soviet foreign minister, are meeting in an effort to resolve the dispute. The agreement affords at least another month for U.S.-Soviet talks on the financial issue.)
©1964 HERBLOCK
THE WASHINGTON POST
"Pardon Me-I Think You're Sitting On The Lady's Purse"
The People Say...
Dear Editor:
How many years have we lost to Missouri?
How many years have we been rated better?
How many years ago did the No. 1 and No. 2 "Rookie of the Year" in professional football come from the KU backfield?
How many years has it been since the Missouri freshmen waxed the KU frosh?
How many years in a "lifetime contract?"
Curiously.
Curiously,
W. A. Murdock
Class of 1963
(The Ad-Bus, Side)
Gentlemen:
Re. the editorial "In Memoriam": I am sure you also remember that classes were dismissed on the Monday following the assassination of John Kennedy. Perhaps you do not remember that on that Monday there was a significant number of "grief-stricken" KU students absent from both the convocation and campus; by adding Monday's "holiday" to three or four class cuts on Tuesday they were able to double the length of Thanksgiving vacation. But more depressing than this conduct was that there were those who, upon returning the following week, persisted in revealing the grief and sorrow that had been theirs. One wondered at the time
why they had chosen so unique a manner of expressing their emotions and why, upon returning, they felt it necessary to explain them
Almost a year passed; Thanks-giving approached again; and the editorial writers of the nation's newspapers and periodicals, apprehensive that we had not enough of $3.95 paperweights and 69 cent portraits, recounted the tragic events and reiterated the sorrow and loss they had felt. Again one wondered if all these protestations were necessary to anything but attempts to convince readers that a truly terrible event really had happened, that the nation actually had been tremendously shocked, and, most importantly, that the editorial writer really had felt the tragedy more deeply than others, for he had once more been called to write of it.
But upon these misgivings one area of certainty was finally cast: Mr. Langford followed his reminiscence with a revealing reminder of the approach of "Lee Harvey Oswald day." Few, if any, can have wondered about the sincerity of his comments. Mr. Langford replaced the doubts and uncertainties with disgust.
Sincerelv.
NS
Mical C. Renz Lawrence junior
Rofesso that son's Poveequa
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