The Rotary Balita no. 671 (May 17, 1951)

How Large Should a U.N. Police Force Be? Under the "United Action For Peace" resolution, the Assembly is empowered to accept commitments of armed forces for future police action by U.N. First commitment was an offer from Sweden of an armored team of 1000 officers and men. Is It Enough to Talk About Reducing? Russia did not carry out its threat to boycott the Secretary-General when he presided over the 12-nation committee planning the merger of the atomic energy and disarmament commissions. Nor did Mr. Malik walk out when his proposal to seat Communist China was rejected (9-1). Secretary-General Lie contended that "no matter how distant it may seem in this dark and dangerous period... progress of any kind toward agreement on the reduction of armaments would help to reduce political tensions." How Should Self-Determination Be Determined? The U.N. Charter lays great stress upon the self-determination of peoples. Application of this principle to Kashmir has been pending since 1949 when the Council recommended a free and impartial vote of the Kashmiri. To hasten a solution, Britain and U.S.A. placed another resolution before the Council. It reminds India and Pakistan of their pledge to permit the Kashmiri to vote on their future allegiance under U.N. auspices; proposes the appointment of a new U.N. representative to affect the demilitarization of the area and arrange for the vote, and calls upon India and Pakistan to accept arbi- tration if they cannot agree to his proposals. The new mediator is instructed to take into consideration the possibility of policing Kashmir, during the election, with a United Nations army or with forces raised locally. Can Knowledge Stimulate Action? For the first time a principal organ of U.N. met in South America. Secretary-General Lie attended the opening of the twelfth session of the Economic and Social Council in Santiago de Chile, home of its president Hernan Santa Cruz. First item of business was discussion of the World Economic Report just released by the U.N. This annual study of conditions and trends provides the background and perspective for the central task of the Council - to stimulate international cooperation in creating stability and well-being. Here are some of the salient features of the Report. Production and international trade have risen sharply both in the free-enterprise countries and in the planned economies. Trade between these two areas is stagnant because of non-economic factors. The free world has been able to reduce substantially its economic dependence on the United States although rising prices of raw materials due to re-armament threaten both export trade and living standards. In the planned economies, increased production led to expansion of planning. Slowest progress, and even lost ground appear in the record of the under developed countries. Though rearmament has raised the prices of their products, it diminishes the supply of material available for their internal development. Seen in this perspective, the threat to stability and well-being arises clearly from the conflict between the great powers because of the lack of cooperation and the constant drain on resources. The problem of the Council is to decide what can be done about it. Russian Prime Minister Stalin (asked what he thought about the U.N. naming China an aggressor): "I estimate it as a shameful decision. The United Nations, created as the bulwark for preserving peace is being turned into an instrument of war… It is characteristic of the present regime in the United Nations that, for instance, the small Dominican Republic of America, whose population scarcely amounts to two millions has the same weight in the United Nations as India... As a matter of fact, the United Nations is now not so much a world organization as an organization for the Americans on behalf of the requirements of the American aggressors."