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great nations over into systems of government they abhorred; it was
tossable only if the population involved had no very great bias one way
or the other.

2. A tossable dispute was one in which justice lay on both sides, evenly
balanced.

3. Tossing was clearly indicated where both sides ardently wished a
settlement, but where neither side was willing to cede an inch, for fear
of losing "face."

Thus the Saar Commission pronounced untossable the proposal by the
Soviet Union to have the Golden Judge decide whether or not America
should abandon all her overseas bases. It also turned down the
suggestion of an American senator that Russia and the United States
should toss for Soviet withdrawal from all Eastern Europe. It denied the
appeal of an idealistic Dane who wanted a toss to decide whether Germany
should be all Communist or all-Western. It likewise rejected a Swiss
proposal that Chiang Kai Shek and Chou En-Lai should toss again, this
time for Formosa itself.

In passing, it is of interest to note that only once did Soviet Russia
agree to toss. It was in the matter of her old dispute with Persia over
caviar fishing rights in the Caspian Sea. Persia won but, to the
consternation of the world, Russia refused to abide by the outcome. It
was the first and only time that the decision of the Golden Judge was
not obeyed, and it had startling repercussions.

All over the world, fellow-travelers abandoned the Soviet cause. They
had been able to find some excuses, however tortuous, for Russian
purges, forced confessions, concentration camps and aggressions, but
they turned away, shocked and saddened, from a nation that openly
welshed on a bet.

There were strong reactions within Russia itself,
although the convulsions were largely screened from Western eyes.
However, an unprecedented number of Russians fled across the Iron
Curtain, seeking asylum in the West. They said gloomily they could no
longer support a regime that reneged on its fair gambling losses, and
protested fiercely this was not the true soul of Russia.

In a gallant effort to recoup face for Russian sportsmanship, many of
these refugees grimly began playing almost non-stop games of "Russian
roulette," which gives the player a five-to-one chance of living. Some
extreme chauvinists proudly reduced the odds to three-to-one by
inserting two bullets, and a former Red Army major named Tolbunin even
used three. His _tour de force_ was widely admired, although