THE HYDROGEN BOMB
Sir-Mr. Southon still fails completely to state what specific thing it is that the Communists have and we need to ensure peace. Instead, he gives us a dissertation based on the relation of arms, conventional and other, to the world situation. He says: "If we trust in armaments well knowing that we cannot actually use them, then we are relying for our sense of security on what we know to be an illusion." Who trusts arms well knowing that they cannot be used? Is it the Russians, or us? Have the Russians made a declaration that since mankind dare not now begin a war, even with conventional weapons, they have resolved to destroy all kinds of arms, abolish all kinds; of armament manufacture and disband all kinds of armed forces; that they invite the rest of the world to do the same, and that in proof of their good faith, they throw open all their territories, including satellites, to the closest international inspection? As the biggest military menace in the world today, it is up to Russia to give that lead. Mr. Southon says that if we are to survive, East-West tension must be eliminated and differences reconciled. Have the Russians tried to eliminate tension and reconcile differences? Or have they, through the years, persistently increased tension by making unwarranted charges against the West. and organising world-wide conspiracies of unrest? The bland simplicity of Mr. Southon’s ‘proposed solution is truly delicious. All we have to do is: "seek out and develop the internal contradictions in both sets of ideas until we do arrive at something that will give acceptable firm support to both sides equally." But if, having found this mysterious and at present unknown "something" you end up by giving both sides equal supportwhat difference have you made? The four officers of the Soviet Academy of Sciences who were expelled from the Party and deprived of all their functions for making a suggestion for tackling the "internal contradictfons" of a state that prates of democracy and freedom but operates as a ruthless despotism, now know a good deal more about this than Mr. Southon.
J. MALTON
MURRAY
(Oamaru),
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 886, 27 July 1956, Page 5
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362THE HYDROGEN BOMB New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 886, 27 July 1956, Page 5
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