ARMS REDUCTION PROPOSAL OF THE SOVIET

Grey River Argus, 11 October 1948, Page 5

ARMS REDUCTION PROPOSAL OF THE SOVIET

Upholders Attack U.S.A. (Rec. 8.50). LONDON, Oct. 9. At Paris the Political Committee of the United Nations Assembly opened its debate on the Soviet proposal for a one-third reduction of armaments by the Big Five Powers and for a ban on atomic weapons. The Polish Foreign Minister, M. Mudzelewski, described the American Government, as “'the world’s greatest pedlar of fear and greatest exporter of dread.” M. Modzelewski claimed that the fear of war, which hung over the world, could be attributed to the United States Government, with its Truman Doctrine. Its Marshall Plan, and its Wall Street bankers seeking profits. He commended the Soviet proposal as a start on the right road. A reduction by one-third of the worlds armaments would be the reduction bv one-third of the world’s fear. M. Kisseley (Byelo-Russia) repeated the charge that the. Americans were planning war against Russ a. He mentioned the arrival of American Super-Fortresses in Britain, and he described the Western Union Pact as blatantly aggressive. Evidence af this, he stated was the apnointmen: of Marshal Montgomery as the Chief of the Defence Council. BRITISH REGARD SOVIET

AS HUMBUGGING •■sir 11. Shawcross (Britain) said that there could not be agreement on disarmament until agreement was reached on atomic control. He repeated Britain’s disarmament -Proposals of a year ago. These, he said asked: (1) That the nations exchange information their o n manpower and their armed forces; (2) That th.s information be verified by some simple control system; (3) That the verified information be published in ad C °sPr r H S ’ Shawcross described the Russian plan as “humbug rubbish and propaganda. He declared that Russia’s armed forces were two and a-auarter times greater than they were before the World War 11. Britain would not be bamboozled bm she demanded that Russia lift _hei secrecy before anv agreement could be reached on disarmament or on ntonvc control. 4 He' said: “The Soviet Government will have put to put a great many cards on the table before we are satisfied that this proposal is anything but a somewhat threadbare propaga?he Committee adjourned until Monday.