THE WEEK

Going the rounds in England: A while ago, Khrushchev gladdened the hearts of atheists everywhere by reporting his cosmonaut had looked heavenward and seen no sign of God. Actually, Khrushchev has revealed to intimates, what the man said was— “I have seen God, and She is black.” . . . Time’s Man-of-the-Year editors showing divine insight?

A year ago we noted that the rapid rotation of gentry at the top of the foreign aid administration betokened the beginning of the end for foreign aid— just as, when the sixth husband files for divorce, you begin to suspect the girl’s impossible. So now it begins to appear there’s something similar going on at the old Alliance for Progress outfit, which has just gained a new director and presumably a new start in life. The prognosis is clear: this too shall pass away. The Alianza scheme is fundamentally wrong and irrelevant. Wrong because no country or group of countries has the power to raise the Southern continent and all of Central America to a modern style of wealth. Irrelevant because there is no alliance when American citizens are manhandled with impunity by Latin insurgents and their property is unsafe at the hands of rampageous nationalists. The first step towards any alliance, or any progress, must be made in Cuba. Castro has made the U.S. the laughing stock of the Western Hemisphere, and his agents have spurred the violence and disorder that cannot be cured by new shoes and school teachers. Betancourt has called for action on Castro first, and the Organization of American States has seconded the motion. As long as Castro has a free hand, the only alliance and the only progress in this hemisphere will be—his.

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Presidential Election

Going the rounds in England: A while ago, Khrushchev gladdened the hearts of atheists everywhere by reporting his cosmonaut had looked heavenward and seen no sign of God. Actually, Khrushchev has revealed to intimates, what the man said was— “I have seen God, and She is black.” . . . Time’s Man-of-the-Year editors showing divine insight?

A year ago we noted that the rapid rotation of gentry at the top of the foreign aid administration betokened the beginning of the end for foreign aid— just as, when the sixth husband files for divorce, you begin to suspect the girl’s impossible. So now it begins to appear there’s something similar going on at the old Alliance for Progress outfit, which has just gained a new director and presumably a new start in life. The prognosis is clear: this too shall pass away. The Alianza scheme is fundamentally wrong and irrelevant. Wrong because no country or group of countries has the power to raise the Southern continent and all of Central America to a modern style of wealth. Irrelevant because there is no alliance when American citizens are manhandled with impunity by Latin insurgents and their property is unsafe at the hands of rampageous nationalists. The first step towards any alliance, or any progress, must be made in Cuba. Castro has made the U.S. the laughing stock of the Western Hemisphere, and his agents have spurred the violence and disorder that cannot be cured by new shoes and school teachers. Betancourt has called for action on Castro first, and the Organization of American States has seconded the motion. As long as Castro has a free hand, the only alliance and the only progress in this hemisphere will be—his.