World Events in a Month

International events followed one upon another this month with remarkable speed — Arab events, Arab-international ones, and the world developments concerning disarmament, rockets, and artificial satellites, and other matters connected, nearly or remotely, with the meetings of the General Assembly now under way in New York. The problem of relations between France on one side and Britain and America on the other, over the shipment of British-American arms to Tunisia, was the closing chapter on the international horizon, just as President Chamoun's visit to Spain and Greece opened the Arab political month — after last October had been the meeting place of the sons of the Arab states in Beirut, come to attend the Second Arab Games, which His Majesty King Saud witnessed.

From the postponement of the Syrian complaint against Turkey, to the visit of Mr. Eugene Black, president of the World Bank, to Cairo, and his discussion with the responsible officials there of a settlement of the questions pending between Egypt and the states that use the Suez. It was said that Mr. Black intimated to the Egyptian officials that the World Bank would reconsider the financing of Egyptian development projects,

once the crisis in relations was resolved. Then to the visit of Sayf al-Islam al-Badr, crown prince of Yemen, to London, where he reviewed Yemeni-British relations with the Prime Minister and the ministers; then to the Arab League's announcement of its refusal to share in the expenses entailed by the international Emergency Force remaining in the Middle East for another year; then to the declaration by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Hammarskjöld, that from this day forward it would not cooperate with Colonel Leary, acting chief of the international observers in Palestine, whom Jordan accused of collusion with Israel. But the matter to which observers paid no notable attention was the statement made by Mr. Sandys, the British Minister of Defence, in the House of Commons, on reconsidering the composition of the joint British forces and making Aden a British base in place of Cyprus; this new British plan may be a step toward a new distribution of the British armed forces that will have far-reaching echoes in Europe and the East.

It is also to be observed that the Russians, after launching the two artificial satellites, have grown more determined to overawe the Western states and to embarrass their position in the United Nations and outside it. Their refusal to take part in the work of the disarmament committee, and their demand that all member states of the United Nations be admitted to membership of the committee, amounted to setting the Western states an impossible task and saddling them with responsibility for the failure of international disarmament — all this to make the world believe that the Russians, who surpass the West in modern weapons, love peace, and that the Western states hate it.

But the United Nations rejected this Russian point of view and decided to form an international disarmament committee of 25 members, which drove Moscow to declare its warning once again that it would not take part in the work of this committee. All this while the great Western powers continue their study of uniting their efforts to catch up with Russia in the scientific field, even though the artificial satellites have, so far, no effect, direct or indirect, on military matters. The British Air Marshal declared that the Western states have their rockets that match the Russian rockets, and this view was seconded by the American Secretary of Defense, who said: The artificial satellites do not affect our defense programs, but we shall give them attention now, to calm the minds of people who supposed that the Russians would annihilate the world with their rockets and their satellites if we did not catch up with them.

To that end the members of the Atlantic organization have decided to hold a meeting at the level of the senior heads, in Paris, during the coming December, to consider the strengthening of the bonds of solidarity among the member states in scientific matters — and especially the crisis that has threatened the relations of three great powers, France, Britain, and America, over the shipment of British-American arms to Tunisia: the crisis facing the new French government headed by Monsieur Gaillard, formed only a few weeks before, and the crisis that was a principal reason for the visit of Mr. Macmillan, the British Prime Minister, to Paris, his meeting with Monsieur Gaillard, and his reassuring him that Britain would remain at France's side in her various pending international problems.

Perhaps the next few days will reveal the extent of America's and Britain's ability to solve the French-Tunisian problem, and the problem of Algeria first of all — looking upon the visit of the King of Morocco to Washington at the present time as a preliminary political factor in this matter.