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Under the present United Nations Charter such a_police force could operate
and undertake atomic attacks only against lesser powers and only with the consent
of the United States and the Soviet Union.
If such action did take place, the
Soviet Union would have gained little or nothing by the fact that the bombs had
been transferred from American to international possession,
She would be no
worse off if the stockpiles remained where they are today and were dropped from
American planes operating in the service of the UNO. (ere.
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‘The situation would be quite different in the cake,of Soviet-american war,
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the only contingency concerning atomic warfare which as far as one can see today
need seriously concern the Russians and ourselves.
Neither under the present
Charter of the UNO nor for that matter under any charter conceivable today would
the International Police Force be entitled to take action against either the
United States or the Soviet Union.
The main question therefore, is what would
happen to the atomic bombs held by the units of the police force in case of such
awar,
According to Mr, Stassents scheme they would be the only atomic weapons
in existence at the time.
The answer is clear.
Whatever legal provisions or
prohibitions had been enacted prior to such 4 war, both countries, acting under
military necessity, would be forced to seek control of the bombs as soon as war
between them appeared imminent.
Failure to do so would expose a country to the
disastrous consequences of an atomic monopoly in the hands of its opponents,
It
follovs that as far as both the Soviet Union and this country are concerned every~
thing would depend on the geographical location of the "five different suitable
bases" among which, according to Mr. Stassen the International Police Force would
distribute its stockpiles of bombs,
If they were safely within our reach, the
American monopoly for all practical purposes would have remained untouched.
MIf,
instead, they were so distributed that we and the Russians would have a chance
of gaining control of equal shares, the situation would be one of dual possession
similar to that which would have existed if we had given half of our stockpiles
to the Soviet Union in the first place,
‘
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