RUSSIA AND THE VETO

Chronicle (Levin), 21 February 1948, Page 5

RUSSIA AND THE VETO

Press Association)

Mr. Eraser's Fears About United Nations

(Per

WELLINGTON, Feb. 20. " We see tbe United Nations tackiing questions and leaving.tnexn: unsoived ox ^omxng to decisions and making no provision for their enforcement. If that goes on much longer, then that whicn was lartnched with the hopes anu prayers of mankind will ' become u laughing stock to the peoples of the, earth." So said. the Prime Minister (Mr r'raserj when delivering the openinh .tddrcss this morning or the Dom'rnioj. 'onference of the t'nrted Nations Ass' . nation of New Zeaiand. lle told 50 people that hdneye w ords were no use. " Here is a situa i.ioh, " he said, "in which Russia, if i does not get its own vvay, insrsts o.. using the vc,to and stultifying the worK of nearly all the other nations." Mr. Fraser deciared that he did no want lo be an alarmist and say tha war was inevitable. It was not, bu. iievertheless the world was facing i. . errible crlsis. "If once again there should be resoin lo violcnce and bloodshed," he added "the pietuire is appalling, because ther. might only be remnants of ci vilisatiou ieft. We should keep the picture befort us of Vvhat Ihe world ean be made, u the pfinciples of the L'nited Nations ari adliered to. " The past year, he w;ent on, had been \>ne of disappointment. "The veto hau exceeded his eariier forebodings, owinj, to its frequenl, obdurate, and unyiehiing use. "No Moral Right." Afr. Fraser went on to recall Russia war effort ^and the sociological anu cconomic experiments, for which every one, he said, wished success, but no nation, he deci.arcd, had a moral righi to use the veto to stultify decisions. "The nations must ask themselve^ .whether international decisions are to remain perrnanently stultilied and frus trated by this method of deciding, rather not deciding, matters before the L'nited Nations. The rule of unanimity was a great mistake, but it was a questiou of ftccepting that or no organication. r still say that this is better than no organisation. Howcver, on importani matters — for instance, tho enforcemern of collective securtt)'— ihe Wecurjty Founcil is impotent." Palestinc, said Mr. Fraser, was a fur ther illustration. The partition decision was the eorrect o'ne, but there was no provrsion for its enforcement. Aphorisms and a Oreed. Hir C'arl Berendsen • quoted three aphorisms and a creed which he had formulated and by which he attempted. he said, to guide himself in thiM troubled world. The aphorisms are: (1) Keep your head out of the sand; ( -) Keep your feet on the ground; and (8) Keep your eye on the bait. The creed, the fruit of 25 years \s protCssiorial" engagement in, as he put it, "this business," is: "Nothing ean be politically wise unless if is mora-ily right^?' ■( > >; • >«-. Amplifying tlie three points, he said: " ( lf Let no one prctend that all is weil with tlie world today; (2) peace cannot be kept by words alone. I'eople who be lieVe that it can have a simplieitv oul ot this world; (8) it is eas'y to be content with the good things done by the Fnitcd Nations in sueh spheres us trusteeship and economic matters, but if the peace of the world cannot be aept, all el.se goes for nothing." It was in the power of the peoples ot the world, Sir Carl added, to decide now whether the cloth of man's destinv would be one of gohl or a shrond. The Only Straw. The Dean o.f the Diplornatic C'orps, the Hon. Armand Nihotte, Belgian -Minister, said the L'nited Nations was the only straw at which the world eould dutch. Fnfortunatelv, the charter oi the organisation did " not include the common-sense amendments for whicu Mr. Fraser and- his advisers fought so hard at San Francisco.