Friday, 8 December

Snow, cold

From 11.00 until 1.30 I studied Russian.

Gui Weijun cabled me the day before yesterday. He still maintained that relations between Britain and the Soviet Union were fine, and Eden told him about the achievement of the visit of him and Churchill to Moscow. It is really difficult to get accurate news in Britain.

Shaozhou went to various embassies to say goodbye. The American Counsellor Kennan told him that he was very pessimistic towards Soviet affairs. Kennan felt that its prospect was bleak. He said that the Soviet side only categorised people outside in two types. The first was the enemy and the slave the second. Such concepts as friend and equality were not available. The Iranian Counsellor was also very pessimistic, saying that in more than three years Iran had tried its best to help the Soviet Union, and helped it transport countless military materials, but suddenly becuase of a slight delay over the oil issue, the Soviet Union deemed Iran as the biggest enemy. Such a country certainly made others scared.