Improved Balance

Any surprises at NATO's year-end ministerial conference in Paris were purely accidental. An elevator got stuck in the headquarters of the alliance, briefly trapping a dozen photographers. Then U.S. Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara narrowly missed sudden death when the four-engine jet carrying him from Orly Airport to Saigon braked to a jolting stop on the runway, just in time to avoid collision with an incoming plane. As for the meeting of NATO's defense, finance and foreign ministers, it went so smoothly that the session adjourned after only two days, a day ahead of schedule.

Gentle Reminder. McNamara, impressive as usual, ticked off a few awesome facts of U.S. nuclear power: more than 2,000 atomic warheads ready in case of war, a 100% increase in two years; 500 SAC bombers and 500 intercontinental missiles, with 1,000 more missiles by 1966; a new 155-mm. nuclear howitzer to boost the power of Army ground forces, whose manpower has been raised by 45% within two years. In a gentle but unmistakable reminder to U.S. allies, the Pentagon chief said that unless they hiked their own contributions to NATO, Congress and U.S. public opinion would become increasingly restless over Washington's far heavier share of the Western defense burden.

In a sense, the familiar discussion of military preparedness was overshadowed by NATO's "general recognition," as Secretary-General Dirk Stikker summed it up, "of a change in the atmosphere of world affairs." British Foreign Secretary R. A. Butler echoed a common view that in the wake of the Kremlin's retreat in the Cuban missile crisis, the Soviets "have renounced the policy of high risks in dealing with the West." U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk, while warning that the Communists could create new dangers with unpredictable and perilous speed, hinted that the array of problems facing Russia may make it far easier for the West to reach agreements with the Reds. The problems include the deeply significant rift with Red China, the slackening of revolutionary ardor at home, and the Soviet Union's growing domestic economic troubles.

Jane's Verdict. Nikita Khrushchev has stretched his nation's resources dangerously thin. The 1964 and 1965 budgets published in Moscow last week showed sharp cutbacks in plans for such key sectors of heavy industry as steel and electric power in order to divert massive additional funds to the lagging agriculture program and the backward chemical industry. Perhaps the lack of capital was also the cause of the declining rate in Russia's air and space spectaculars. The latest edition of Jane's All the World's Aircraft lists only one new Soviet plane for 1962--a high-altitude reconnaissance plane like the U2. Jane's also suggested that Russia's His and Her space-twin flights "failed to achieve all their objectives, which may have included orbital rendezvous," pointed out that the Russians, in addition, lost contact with their rocket probe of Mars.

U.S. projects, although begun with more modest objectives, far exceeded expectations, the report stated, citing Major Gordon Cooper's 22-orbit flight and the Mariner II probe that relayed a wealth of data about Venus. "With the great Saturn booster due to become operational in 1964-65," Jane's added, "the suggestion that America and the Soviet Union should work together on major projects like lunar exploration is both timely and sensible now that the prospective partners are attaining a measure of equality."

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