urally reals with Hie Soviet Union, only a few differences
remain, which should, not be exaggerated. On the other
hand, as regards the peace treaty with Italy, where the
chief responsibility rests with Great Britain and the United
States of America, a number of issues of major importance
remain unsettled. In this case too the Soviet Union made
several steps for the achievement of general agreement. Per-
haps in the end this will facilitate agreement on this draft
too.
The Paris meeting has also shown that there are cer-
tain absolutely undesirable tendencies in the preparation of
the peace treaties. It transpired that the so-called "peace
offensive" proclaimed in certain American circles boils down
in some cases simply to a desire to impose the will of two
governments upon the government of a third state. Such
was the case, for instance, with the question of the future
of the former Italian colonies, when the Soviet Union waived
its claims completely and yet the American and British del-
egations leagued together and made it impossible to reach
an agreed decision. In the question of Italian reparations,
we again encountered an Anglo-American bloc, which in
this matter too did not conduct a "peace offensive," but an
offensive against the Soviet Union. Having leagued together
in their desire to impose their will upon the Soviet Union,'
the American and British delegations refused to reckon with
-the perfectly legitimate wishes of the Soviet Union and frus-
trated the possibility of an agreed" decision on reparations as
well.
The Paris meeting showed at the same time that the
attempts of certain slates to impose their will upon another
state are meeting with natural resistance. Certainly no self-
respecting allied state will allow another state lo impose its
will upon it. The Soviet Union is precisely such a state, a
state, on the other hand, which has sufficiently demon-
48