THE WEEK

The CIA ran a perfect operation. Now that it has its hands on Soviet defector Yuri Nossen Ko it may be able to find out just how far our delegation really intends to go in the Disarmament Ballet!

When sovereignty over Cyprus was settled in the Peace of Antalcidas in the fourth century before Christ, the dispute between Greek and non-Greek was already twelve hundred years old. It is about 3,500 years old now, and just as lively as ever, giving pause, one would think, to those statesmen and soldiers who would snap their fingers at the tempest. Yet, even if there is little that can be done between Greek and Turk on Cyprus, there is much that can be done in questions of wider import that also center on the Cyprus roil. Between the Communist bloc and the West, Cyprus is a prize of high value, offering an offshore strategic base bearing on the entire Near East, and a potential bottle stopper for the Suez Canal: Cyprus must be kept from Communist hands, at all costs. Within the West, Cyprus offers a chance for the NATO powers to exert themselves to protect their territory and interests: if the problem is fobbed off to the impotent UN, thereby permitting the Soviet Union to get directly in the act, then the NATO alliance will begin to look like a public relations stunt.

Featured Tags

Presidential Election

New Hampshire

The Beatles

Music

The CIA ran a perfect operation. Now that it has its hands on Soviet defector Yuri Nossen Ko it may be able to find out just how far our delegation really intends to go in the Disarmament Ballet!

When sovereignty over Cyprus was settled in the Peace of Antalcidas in the fourth century before Christ, the dispute between Greek and non-Greek was already twelve hundred years old. It is about 3,500 years old now, and just as lively as ever, giving pause, one would think, to those statesmen and soldiers who would snap their fingers at the tempest. Yet, even if there is little that can be done between Greek and Turk on Cyprus, there is much that can be done in questions of wider import that also center on the Cyprus roil. Between the Communist bloc and the West, Cyprus is a prize of high value, offering an offshore strategic base bearing on the entire Near East, and a potential bottle stopper for the Suez Canal: Cyprus must be kept from Communist hands, at all costs. Within the West, Cyprus offers a chance for the NATO powers to exert themselves to protect their territory and interests: if the problem is fobbed off to the impotent UN, thereby permitting the Soviet Union to get directly in the act, then the NATO alliance will begin to look like a public relations stunt.