Up to Moscow

The U.S. turned the table on the Russians. During the thirteen weary weeks the deputy foreign ministers' meeting has been bumping along in Paris, the Reds have insisted that the West is stalling. Last week the West decided to show the world clearly who was doing the stalling. U.S. Delegate Philip Jessup handed Gromyko a note inviting Russia to a Foreign Ministers Conference to open in Washington on July 23, and to talk about the five agenda items already agreed on: German demilitarization; Austrian peace treaty; German unity; Italian, Rumanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian peace treaties; status of Trieste.

Not on the proposed agenda: NATO and U.S. bases in Europe, which Gromyko wants included. The West feels that inclusion of NATO would imply 1) that it is open to discussion as a threat to peace, 2) that the West will bargain on this issue.

This week, Moscow accepted the U.S. bid on the unacceptable condition that the agenda include NATO and U.S. bases.

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