Letter from London

Whatever optimistic politicians may say, one or two of the world’s trouble spots present problems which are, humanly speaking, just plain insoluble. The problem of Israel and the Arabs is one: Cyprus is another. In neither case can there be any tolerable solution unless the conditions of the problem change.

Only now, far too late, are people beginning to understand what the Cyprus problem is about; or, perhaps even more important, what it isn’t about. What this isn’t is a straightforward colonial issue, which could be solved by the withdrawal of the colonial power. The great danger, indeed, is that Britain will weary of a thankless task and simply leave the caldron to blow its own lid off.

AL

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Anthony Lejeune

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Whatever optimistic politicians may say, one or two of the world’s trouble spots present problems which are, humanly speaking, just plain insoluble. The problem of Israel and the Arabs is one: Cyprus is another. In neither case can there be any tolerable solution unless the conditions of the problem change.

Only now, far too late, are people beginning to understand what the Cyprus problem is about; or, perhaps even more important, what it isn’t about. What this isn’t is a straightforward colonial issue, which could be solved by the withdrawal of the colonial power. The great danger, indeed, is that Britain will weary of a thankless task and simply leave the caldron to blow its own lid off.