At time of writing the Vietnam position is no longer the -.main talking point in international affairs, the Cyprus crisis having taken its place. Undoubtedly the Turkish attacks on Cyprus have been inspired, to a certain extent anyway, by the U.S. attack on North Vietnam. Moreover, the U.S. must be not a little pleased that something has come up to divert attention away from the Far Easte No one should be lulled into a sense of false security - the Far East crisis is infinitely more dangerous and explosive than that of Cyprus. The U.S. attack made a completelyqualitative change in the situation - the Chinese were quite correct in their assessment that the U.S. had gone over the brink, The present position is a lull rather than a ceasefire, and the situation remains so fluid that any day some incident could take place which would give the excuse for a fullscale atiack on the North,
We give elsewhere news of activities on this yuestion, but we must reiter-= ate that the campaign must continue with concentration on the key issue = that of putting pressure on Wilson to repuliate the American action, Wilson's silence up to presen: is tacit support for the Tories and completely inexcusable. The Economist of August 3th had this to say: "That a test of will on this scale was coming in Vietnam has been perfectly obvious for several weeks", so confirning that U.S. action in the Gulf of Tonkin was deliberate and well-prepared beforehand. There are, of course, some obscurities about the two actions...It is vastly odd, that the mosquito of the North Vietnamese navy should attack the tiger of the Seventh Fleet...eeTwo things can be said without doubt.
"First, if a country's ships are attacked in what international law holds to be the open sea, it is entitled to fight back and, if the attack is repeated, +o take action against the haven from which the attacks came. Second is, Tues= day's action in the Gulf of Tonkin provided the suitable moment for that limited military action against North Vietnam which the United States has been threatening all summer in order to make Hanoi disengage from the rebellion in the south, ee" The paper's report from Washington states: "Six or seven weeks ago, when Administration spokesmen high and low were talking darkly of the dangers of a spread of fighting in the Far East if the communists failed to get the message that the U.S. was in earnest there, the Admin. almost certainly did not intend what happened this week. If the Admin. is resolved not to submit passively.e. (it)..is also anxious to avoid land campaigns in Asia, the use of seapower, and the attendant risk of naval skirmishes, seems to follow.
"It remains a puzzle why the North Vietnamese, when they were doing so well in the guerilla fighting «s» should have chosen to engage the U.S. in an element in which their inferiority is so complete....official accounts do not explain why, unless they have taken leave of their sense, the North Vietnamese should have acted as they did." The correspondent summarises what has happened and outlines the perspectives. He continues by asking what the North can do, and say they can intensify their land fighting. He concludes: "..So far there is one habitual dissenter, Senator Wayne Morris, he noticed what others have not, that on Sunday Hanoi radio was complain “of South Vietnamese raids on Hone Me.. The Senator stated the Maddox patrolled further out to sea while General Khanh's small boats were shelli these islands... Khanh's coastal raiding policy is one aspect of his campaign to carry the war to the North.." (our emphasis throughout)
How can you remain quiet,Mr. Wilson?