The Allies: Temptation of Trade

Pipe—the big kind that Russia desperately needs to complete its vast gas and oil network stretching from the Pacific to the Elbe—was the second biggest topic in European capitals last week. For months, NATO has been urging a total embargo on large-diameter pipe. Sputtered a NATO official in Paris: "Sell them rifles. Even sell them atomic bombs.

But don't sell them pipe."

Provoking the outcry was a rumble that started in Bonn fortnight ago when rebellious members of the Bundestag rounded up enough votes to reverse the government's cancellation of a juicy $20 million Soviet pipe order. Chancellor Konrad Adenauer rushed...