MIDDLE EAST: While Thousands Cheered

Summoned into emergency session three weeks ago amidst Russian cries of threatening war, the U.N. General Assembly met in Manhattan to defuse the international time bombs threatening the peace of the Middle East. Last week, after eight days of palaver, the Assembly brought forth its own novel method of bomb disposal. The technique: wrap the infernal device in verbal cotton wool—this deadens that unpleasant ticking sound—and tiptoe quickly away.

This inconclusive conclusion to the Assembly's deliberations, which many cheered, was largely the doing of the great powers. In their anxiety to avoid even implicit U.N. condemnation as "aggressors," the U.S....

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