The Independence of Yugoslavia
At a Communist Party meeting last Saturday, Marshal Tito said that Yugoslavia was willing to be helped with food from the West, but that he had no intention of purchasing arms or even adopting training in up-to-date technique for the numeri- cally large Yugoslav army. These statements were primarily designed for Russian consumption. They were intended to fore- stall any accusations from the East of aggressive intentions rather than to reject in advance any possible offers from the West. But the West shoidd certainly not neglect the lesson which this speech underlines. It is that a correct and realistic policy towards Yugoslavia can be pursued in peace-time without undue involvement with Marshal Tito's Communist Government. The formal point at issue is not the willingness of the Yugoslays to defend themselves. That willingness has never been doubted, and it has been amply confirmed in the testing circumstances of the estrangement between Yugoslavia and Russia. The point is that the Balkan satellites, Bulgaria, Rumania and Hungary. have ignored the limitations placed on their rearmament under the peace treaties to which Soviet Russia, as well as Britain, France and the United States, is a signatory. Thus a situation roughly parallel to that which exists in Korea, in which Com- munist aggression can take place without open Russian partici- pation, has been brought into being by plainly illegal means. This is a subject which falls strictly and formally within the terms of reference of the Council of Foreign Ministers. It should certainly be dealt with when the Council meets.
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