Word: neutralization
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...world, would be gravely damaged. Kennedy elected to meet the attack, and to meet it on the question of Laos-even though that was his most precarious battleground. In meeting that test, the President avoided any tone of belligerence, offered to settle for minimal terms. He called for a neutral rather than a pro-Western Laos, a cease-fire rather than a rollback of the Pathet Lao; he was even willing to let Communist China take part in the conference that would work out a settlement...
Achievement of a neutral Laos would be no Kennedy victory, but if neutrality could be preserved, it would be an acceptable stopgap solution. Implicit in Kennedy's words was a hint of a big stick-a warning that, in spite of all the hazards of warfare and the possibility of another Korea, the U.S. would fight if necessary to keep the Reds from overrunning Laos. The troops were ready, and Secretary of State Rusk was at the SEATO conference in Bangkok to rally the U.S.'s allies (see following story...
...these attacks do not stop," said he in a fireside-chat manner, "those who support a truly neutral Laos will have to consider their response . . . My fellow Americans, Laos is far away from America, but the world is small. Its 2,000,000 people live in a country three times the size of Austria. The security of all Southeast Asia will be endangered if Laos loses its neutral independence. Its own safety runs with the safety of us all, in real neutrality observed by all ... I know that every American will want his country to honor its obligations...
...plan's basic feature is a ban on the test explosions of all nuclear devices, to be enforced by a system of test stations. The system is to extend throughout the world, and will be operated, by an international commission composed of Western, Communist, and neutral nations. Test stations will use seismographs, which accurately register virtually all explosions in the atmosphere and underwater and a certain proportion of those underground. These test instruments register the difference between man made and natural disturbances within a certain range of accuracy, the exceptions being small underground nuclear blasts. In order to determine...
Another major problem is the representation of nations in the Control commission. The West wants three seats out of the seven, with two going to Russia and a satellite, and the remaining two seats to be taken by selected neutrals. The Russians demand a 3-3-1 representation. Since a two-thirds vote will be necessary on all budgetary matters, the West will have an effectual veto over the systems operations. The Western objection to the 3-3-1 ratio is that it places too much strain on the neutral in cases of disagreement, but gives him too little influence...