University of Washington - Tyee Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

Page 24 text:

T The World In Relation . . . 1962 The Cold War which has created at the same time unprece- dented hopes for progress and fears of total destruction con- tinued to impose its strange paradoxical nature on the world This ideological struggle is the underlying if not the direct cause of the major events of this period. 1961 and the early part of 1962 if anything produced worsening relations be- tween the Free Nations and the Communist Bloc. The Berlin situation represented the low point in these rela- tions. Berlin was the only place where East and West could meet freely. A city of dramatic contrast between two con- flicting economic and political systems, it was the only Western offensive position within the Iron Curtain. But this became history on August 13, 1961— a day when East Ger- many, unable to stand the crippling exodus of refugees, divided the city with a barbed-wire barricade. The Western powers vowed to protect their rights in West Berlin at any cost . . . the East Germans insisted that Berlin be made a free city. President Kennedy called several National Guard and reserve units to active duty, and the nation prepared to face the possibility of war. On October 27, 1961, American and Russian military power faced each other for the first time in history. But in time, and amid the ultimatums, vows, and provocations, the situation cooled and finally stalemated— leaving a permanent cinder wall between East and West. Berlin showed something else besides East-West strife— the satellite countries now have leverage in the Kremlin. Khrushchev apparently did not want to risk war over Berlin. East Germany could not afford to continue losing its labor force to the West. The East Germans were able to pressure Khrushchev into allowing the border closing, but the Germans —not the Kremlin— strung the barbed wire. Russian military forces remained outside the city until the move seemed successful. Some Western second-guessers feel that the Com- munists were not ready to defend their move, that the West could have knocked down the barricade as if it were merely a traffic restriction. . Another highly signlficanf ' ffdndm ' fhe Commuhist WSl for the first time, discussed openly in 1961-62: there is a growing ideological rift between the Soviet Union and Red China. The Red Chinese— faced with the need to develop industrial power and feed a sizable portion of the world ' s population— are more Stalinistic ' more aggressive, and per- haps more importantly, less worried about the effects of a nuclear war. The Soviet Union has conversely developed an industrial economy and is now ready to turn to consumer

Page 23 text:

-ti ' f,: A

Page 25 text:

production. The Russian Revolution has been largely success- ful-an all-out war would destroy almost forty years of prog- ress. It is a risk the Kremlin is not willing to take, and the preferred course is one of total economic war (sometimes better known as peaceful co-existence ). Serious as the Russo-China rift may become, however, observers at this point see little that is encouraging in it for the West. But still another trend rates as the most significant of the year, perhaps of the decade. This is the emergence of the Asian and African nations to places of prominence in the world political scene. This Afro-Asian bloc places a burdensome challenge before both of the ideological camps, for these nations are uncommitted. They are regarded as a vast, untapped reserve with which to round out the team. Their allegiance could well cause the balance of world power to swing to one side or the other. But the price asked for it is high- overnight social and economic equality in the modern world. As yet, these highly nationalistic nations have demon- strated little enthusiasm for signing with either camp. This emergence has been felt most directly in the United Nations where these newly independent countries are beginning to make the organization top heavy to the point that they can effectively change regulations which do not affect them by veto or abstention. Most of the UN ' s efforts, indeed its troubles, have centered on this bloc, on Africa in particular. UN troops were involved in bitter battles to prevent the secession of Katanga Province from the Congo. The fighting heavily taxed the shakey finan- cial structure of the world organization. But the Congo fight- ing cost more than money ... it took the life of the man who had turned the United Nations from largely an international debating society into a world organization with the power to send soldiers to quiet the world ' s trouble spots . . . Dag Hammarskjold. Walter Lippman wrote that Hammarskjold symbolized the noblest Western tradition— that laws can be administered by judges and civil servants, who have their first allegiance to the laws and not to their personal, their class or even their national achievements. After the months of effort the Russians had spent to strike the UN impotent by ;, replacing the Secretariat with a three-man troika, Hammar- I skjold ' s death put the UN ' s future in question. But his sup- h porters managed to rally and defeat the Russian pressures, and i, elected U Thant of Burma as Acting Secretary-General— with- .! out restricting his powers. U Thant acted quickly to put the I United Nations back on cciurse. Still, the loss of Hammarskjold could not be erased Events on the European continent were encouraging. The continued growth of the Franco-German rapprochement at the heart of the European Economic Community was one of the brighter trends. Although the economic growth of the Western European countries showed some signs of leveling off, it still remained a healthy phenomenon. Although France made marked gains economically, its political state was unsure. General De Gaulle finally managed to bring about a cease-fire in Algeria during the early spring of 1962, but new trouble errupted there. The OAS, a secret French army organization, turned the war into one of Frenchmen against Frenchmen in an effort to keep Algeria French. The most vicious dictatorship in Latin America was that of Rafael L. Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. His assassination allowed the reform groups a chance, at least, to institute democratic rule in the Republic. Neutralist, passive India invaded the tiny enclave of Goa, a Portugese colony since the 1500 ' s. The Middle East remained relatively quiet despite several very touchy situations which might have sparked upheavals in previous years. In June, Premier Abdul Kassem of Iraq claimed Kuwait. The Sultan of Kuwait asked the British for protection due him by treaty, and the British responded by sending troops. Most of the Arab states strongly opposed the Iraqi claim, and the British later yielded their defensive role to the other Arab states. By its action. Great Britain did much to clear the air of anti-British feeling in the Middle East. The breakup of the United Arab Republic (UAR) by the secession of Syria was accepted with restraint by President Nasser of Egypt. It may be that the breakup in the long run will encourage closer Arab unity in the Middle East, if the Arabs are free from the fear of Egyptian domination. On the brighter, scientific side both the United States and the Soviet Union orbited men around the earth. Gherman S. Titov of the U.S.S.R. went up August 6, 1961, and John H. Glenn of the U.S.A. in a trip watched every second by millions went into orbit on February 20, 1962. Sandwiched around the Russian and American decisions to resume nuclear testing, these two hopeful events point up again the ugly contrasts of the Cold War. (( Written for the By Bill Powers 962 TYEE