The Week

On February 12 there appeared simultaneously in the London Observer and the New York Herald Tribune (quickly re-echoed throughout the non-Communist world) a feature article by the English Krem-linologist, Edward Crankshaw, under a streamer head, “Basic, Bitter Russia-Chinese Split Revealed in ‘Leak’ via Satellite.” Mr. Crankshaw wrote that “there has come into British hands a fully-documented report of the charges and counter-charges exchanged by Peiping and Moscow at the Moscow conference… in November and December of last year.” He continued with a sensational five-thousand-word Inside Story. A child should have known at first glance that the document used by Mr. Crankshaw was a fraud and forgery, concocted by the MGB, and leaked to the West to serve the political objective so blatantly revealed in the key words so obligingly broadcast by Mr. Crankshaw: “The bitterness of the Red Chinese attack… the wholly callous manner in which the Red Chinese spoke of the necessity of war contrasted with Mr. Khrushchev’s impassioned evocation of the perils of nuclear war, his insistence that he was absolutely sincere about disarmament (‘the only true humanism’) and his emphasis on coexistence.” Seldom has there been so abject an instance of the voluntary submission of the Western communication system to the uses of the Kremlin. All this was obvious at one quick reading. We are subsequently informed that the forgery was initially foisted on American intelligence operatives in Europe, and through them leaked to the public press. So?

“If you stop long enough before the window of the Italian Tourist Bureau,” says Senator Magnuson, arguing for stepped-up promotion of U.S. tourist attractions, “before you know it you’re inside there and on your way to Italy.” Hmmm. Can’t say it ever happened to us.

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On February 12 there appeared simultaneously in the London Observer and the New York Herald Tribune (quickly re-echoed throughout the non-Communist world) a feature article by the English Krem-linologist, Edward Crankshaw, under a streamer head, “Basic, Bitter Russia-Chinese Split Revealed in ‘Leak’ via Satellite.” Mr. Crankshaw wrote that “there has come into British hands a fully-documented report of the charges and counter-charges exchanged by Peiping and Moscow at the Moscow conference… in November and December of last year.” He continued with a sensational five-thousand-word Inside Story. A child should have known at first glance that the document used by Mr. Crankshaw was a fraud and forgery, concocted by the MGB, and leaked to the West to serve the political objective so blatantly revealed in the key words so obligingly broadcast by Mr. Crankshaw: “The bitterness of the Red Chinese attack… the wholly callous manner in which the Red Chinese spoke of the necessity of war contrasted with Mr. Khrushchev’s impassioned evocation of the perils of nuclear war, his insistence that he was absolutely sincere about disarmament (‘the only true humanism’) and his emphasis on coexistence.” Seldom has there been so abject an instance of the voluntary submission of the Western communication system to the uses of the Kremlin. All this was obvious at one quick reading. We are subsequently informed that the forgery was initially foisted on American intelligence operatives in Europe, and through them leaked to the public press. So?

“If you stop long enough before the window of the Italian Tourist Bureau,” says Senator Magnuson, arguing for stepped-up promotion of U.S. tourist attractions, “before you know it you’re inside there and on your way to Italy.” Hmmm. Can’t say it ever happened to us.