Suez—Action Short of Nuclear War

Whether they judge the action taken . by France and Great Britain to have been right or wrong originally, all who wish the Free World to survive must wish it success. To say “must” in this manner may seem excessively categorical and presumptuous, but we have only to consider the alternatives to see that success offers the Atlantic Powers as a whole at least a prospect, in fact the only prospect, of arresting the disintegration of the Middle East and of preventing that region from falling under Russian domination. And it is perfectly clear to every rational observer that the defeat of France and Great Britain would be a major victory, first, for the revolutionary movement that extends from furthest Indonesia to the Atlantic shores of Morocco, and, secondly—and finally—for Russia. Only a major war—in fact, a nuclear war— could restore, if at all, the position the Atlantic powers as a whole would have lost if the present action of France and Great Britain were to end in failure.

This consideration alone makes it necessary that the other Atlantic powers, America above all, at least refrain from weakening or obstructing the action, or from diverting it from its true purpose arid substituting misguided or ineffective action, or inaction, by the United Nations. The two European powers are well able to finish what they have begun without the help of others. They have not asked for American help and they do not need it. What they do need, and what the whole of the Free World needs, is that America should wish them success and should leave no doubt in their minds, and in the minds of all nations, that if Russia intervenes, it shall be “hands off. ”

FV

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F. A. Voigt

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Whether they judge the action taken . by France and Great Britain to have been right or wrong originally, all who wish the Free World to survive must wish it success. To say “must” in this manner may seem excessively categorical and presumptuous, but we have only to consider the alternatives to see that success offers the Atlantic Powers as a whole at least a prospect, in fact the only prospect, of arresting the disintegration of the Middle East and of preventing that region from falling under Russian domination. And it is perfectly clear to every rational observer that the defeat of France and Great Britain would be a major victory, first, for the revolutionary movement that extends from furthest Indonesia to the Atlantic shores of Morocco, and, secondly—and finally—for Russia. Only a major war—in fact, a nuclear war— could restore, if at all, the position the Atlantic powers as a whole would have lost if the present action of France and Great Britain were to end in failure.

This consideration alone makes it necessary that the other Atlantic powers, America above all, at least refrain from weakening or obstructing the action, or from diverting it from its true purpose arid substituting misguided or ineffective action, or inaction, by the United Nations. The two European powers are well able to finish what they have begun without the help of others. They have not asked for American help and they do not need it. What they do need, and what the whole of the Free World needs, is that America should wish them success and should leave no doubt in their minds, and in the minds of all nations, that if Russia intervenes, it shall be “hands off. ”