BATTLE OF LAKE SUCCESS: Junior S.O.B.

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By the time Britain's Sir Gladwyn Jebb took the floor next day, Malik had shed much of his usual hard-faced, impassive confidence. He was grumpy. The Briton's sharp sallies made him wince and bite his lips.

Jebb jabbed at Soviet propaganda. "So obviously absurd that it is hard to think that it can be swallowed even by the automatons who listen to the Moscow radio." He satirized the Soviet mind—of which Jacob Malik's is a perfect specimen. Most Russian bureaucrats, said Jebb, are "brought up from infancy on a doctrine of state infallibility." Then Jebb eloquently defined what he called the United Nations way—"which discards force except when it is necessary to meet aggression by force."†

The West's Instrument. Americans who watched the show at Lake Success tended to boo when Malik threw a dirty punch, to cheer when Austin put a hard glove on his opponent. But what was the point of the whole prizefight? U.N., which has been around these five years, is regarded by most people, at worst, as an irritating check on U.S. policy, at best as a windy forum for East and West. Is it worth all the fuss & bother—and the TV time?

U.N. is certainly worth more now than at any time since the first round at San Francisco. Said one experienced reporter last week: "The differences between the U.N. of 1946 and 1950 are striking: then, it had just begun to function; now it has begun to act."

People who sneer that U.N. has acted only because the U.S. has acted miss the point—that the interests of the U.S. and of the free nations in U.N. coincide. The West has made U.N. an instrument of its policy; that is U.N.'s new strength. The instrument is not decisive, but it will contribute to the decision.

Because of its power and place in the world, the U.S. has assumed leadership in U.N. It is leading, not driving, the other free nations through persuasion, give & take adjustments—and some good, sound politicking. At this practical work in the corridors of Lake Success, Austin is ably assisted by his tactful second-in-command, Ambassador Ernest Gross, a State Department career man. The diligence and democracy of Austin and Gross, as they confer with their colleagues, contrast sharply with Malik's manner.

Malik's tactics have won him no friends, have alienated people who might have become friends. Trygve Lie, who for a long time has seemed to be playing a somewhat dubious broker's role between East & West, now appears staunchly on the Western side, although he still wants Red China admitted to U.N. Malik has earned the bitter enmity of the Council's small nations. In one ballot after his return to U.N. last fortnight, Malik managed to get as many as five votes lined up on his side. Now he is alone, though Yugoslavia's Bebler, for reasons best known to himself and Marshal Tito, still abstains.