A supposedly routine meeting of the French cabinet one day last week produced an announcement that had all the contours of a big diplomatic monkey wrench. The French, in an abrupt departure from the agreed-upon tactics of the Big Three allies, asked for a four-power conference with Russia on the question of Germany.
The news fell with a startling clatter into the delicate diplomatic machinery of the allies. Russia naturally wants what France proposes: around a conference table it could postpone, perhaps even block, ratification of the West German peace contract and the...
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