RUMANIA: Conquest by Phone?

No U.S. correspondent has been allowed in Rumania since February 1948. Last week a perceptive career diplomat who recently left Rumania told newsmen what the score is in that wretched country:

Rumania is the most completely captive of the satellites. Barring a major war, there is no hope for resistance within the tightly policed state. Rumania has also been "organized for the hereafter." The now-completed takeover of the Orthodox Church (whose membership includes 90% of the population) was the neatest piece of conspiratorial statecraft in many years in the Balkans.

Foreign Minister Ana Pauker still runs the show (with the vigilant help of the Russian embassy), still enjoys the Kremlin's confidence, despite rumors to the contrary. The Rumanian army has been thoroughly purged. The Russians have three, possibly four, divisions in Rumania. If they wanted to take the country over, they could do it by phone.