The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-10-29
Berlin To Baqdad

= Germans and BnlgEtssiB Northeast Serbia i
the comEnsneSrbsntl Iotj theI i6ng-desired "lanc
bridge" between Betb1 AID iBagdad which Ger
many has been coveting for years. II the plans o
the Teutons do not miscarry, this line Of corlrnu
nication betweeh Berlin, Vienna and CONSTANT
nople will not be a temporary thing, but Perma
nent readjustment Of the map. Weeks before Bull
garia came into the conflict the military writers
Berlin and Vienna were discussing the necessity
of uninterrupted communication between tho
Powers Of the neW. Triple Alliance, Germany, Aus
tria ara 'Fntkty. " I 10 ltOb
y Count Ernest Reventlow, who is as much the
spokesman of the Potsdam military group and Of
the Pan German politicians he is of the big navy
party, summarizes the views Of the most inhuen.
tial factors in German public life in the following
terse statement of their case
I. The new Triple Alliance founded between
Germany. Austria Hungary and Turkey moi
only created for the purposes of this war, but il
must continue to exist after the war; it must be-
come ornament institution. There is only one
difficulty in consolidating this union, and that il
the gap existing between Austria Hungary and
Turkey. This deficiency must be remedied. 1t is
quite clear that the demand for connecting link
between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire which
has been put forward with ever-inCreasing energy
during the last few weeks is not a demand for
temporary, but Tor permanent means OF un
broken and unbreakable communication. ..
In other words, one of the securities which
the German-Austrian-T Turkish alliance needs, and
must create for itself, is a permanent political
and economic line of communication between
Hungary and Turkey-between Constantinople
Berlin and Venna-and this line would neces-
sarily have to be unassailabe in military sense
Not until this line of communication has been
established will the Austrian German Turkish
alliance be able to develop its full strength and
exercise its full power. 1t is an intolerabe re-
striction when two allied Powers, like Germany
and Austria, do not possess an absolutely secure
line OF communication with their third partner
Turkey; it is not merely an intolerable FestEG-
ton, it is something entirely abnormal and indsed
perverse. A real union of strength in war; ASH
peace, will not be possible until granite dam has
been built to connect Turkey with the central
European empires dam SO solidly constructed
that hostile food, whether it flow from The east
or from the west, would be unable even to shake
it, much less to sweep it away"
This, points out Zurich correspondent, is no
vague idea put forward by Count Reventlow, who
is clearly expounding policy that has been care
fully considered and adopted as that of the Ger
man government. The pressure which is being
brought to bear on Rumania to assent to the
tory to Turkey is only the first step on the way
to the erection of the dam of which Count
ReventIow speaks with SO much enthusiasm.
Allusions to the same idea of creating a bridge
of territory from Hungary to Turkey be
found i'll many newspaper articles on the Balkan
situation, whose origin be traced to the Off
Gals OF the German foreign Office who inspire the
press of their country from the WilhelmstraSSe
The TaghChe Rundschau of Berlin declares that
the present impossibity of communicating freely
with our ally Turkey is serious menace to the
Joint interests of all three countries Germany
Austria and Turkey, and this menace must be
removed, not only for the immediate present, but
also for the permanent future. There must be an
unbroken Germanic belt from the North Sea 20
the Bo3ph0rus, whence it will be extended over
land to the Persian Gulf"
The Ncueste Nachrichten of Berlin also alludc,
r. the necessity of "GermanAc belt" across the
balkan peninsula and the same phrase occurs
repeatedly in officially inspired articles appear
ing in newspapers all over Germany
The same inspiration has been influencing the
Austrian and Hungarian press, for almost identi-
cal illusions to the required belt" can be found
in the Vienna and budapest journals maintain
ing the closest connections with the official and
military circles of their respective capitals. Even
the Liberal and Radical newspapers Of Germany,
which have more or less openly opRRstdid
annexation of Russian, French or Belgian terri
tory, support the claim for territorial readjust-
ments to connect Hungary with Turkey The
Frankfurter Zeitung refers to the urgent neces-
sity of establishing chain of communications
which would be unbreakable in all circumstances "
and the Weser Zeitung of Bremen demands the
realization Of the idea of German Empire ex-
tending from Berlin to Bagdad.
'n.sGr, ..... +. -
y Our troops down the Rio Grande warned