Evening star., 1920-02-01
|SIGNS OF A NEW RUSSIA !.
SEEN AS EUROPE'S PERIL
Allies No Longer Masters Re-
turn of Nationalistic Slav Nation
Discussed by Simonds. q.

| that the British have to face in the
future two grave perils. The failure
of the allied policy as to Russia or
rather the incoherence and absence
of policy has resulted in the extinc-
tion of British hopes that Russia
would be broken up into several
states and thus turned aside from
Asiatic ambitions. On the contrary.
Russia is very rapidly achieving
unity again. and as. she grows strong
to drift away from the extremes OF
bolshevist insanity and toward ma
tiona1iStic ideas.
But the new Russia will have both
a strong hatred for the British. who
have been the champions OF Russian
weakness. and a renewed desire to
follow old pathways. to regain lost
provinces and to seek anew an exit
on warm water at the Dardanelles
and an approach to India through
Herat and Kabul. They will find ready
at their hands as allies and as serv-
iceable war material millions OF
Moslems dweIli.sN along the Russian
pathways leafSAs both to India and
to Egypt. irS. last Of all, they will
perceive in these several British colo
nies elements of disorder and unrest,
of open disloyalty. which will add
new vitality to their hopes OF sue
cesSful invasion.
The first perception OF this grow
ing peril came only a few weeks ago.
when the British. French and Amer
lean newspapers We're filled with dis
cussions of the threat TO India and
for a brief hour there was renewed
discussion of active military prepa-
ration, of the guaranteeing of Polish
and Rumanian security by the prom
Use of material and munitions for
the Rumanian and Polish armies
This was a swing of the pendulum
toward war with Russia.
Lloyd Georges Move.
But Lloyd George with a keen eye
| to the domestic political situation in
Britain. an acute appreciation Of the
| growing strength OF labor rushed
over to Paris and swung the pendu-
| lum violently in the other direction.
The result was the proposal for trade
| relations without political recogni-
! Georgian compromise. but a compro-
mise, very quickly rejected by the
bolshevists. who replied by insisting
upon peace before trade.
All this. however, like SO much that
! went on in the Paris conference. is
mere by-play. 1t is the effort to
manipulate foreign policy, to con-
! troll domestic politics; it is some
times momentarily successful in do
! mestic politics. but it leads straight
! to disaster in the foreign field As
consequence of recent efforts Lloyd
| George now finds himself in a far
| weaker position than before his inn
| pulsive pronouncement at Paris. He
| is still afraid. since he rules by vir-
tue of a coalition dominated by tories,
! to make open peace with the boil
| shevist government, but he has been
driven one step nearer the point
where he must face the question and
decide for peace or for war.
Underlying all this surface rip
pling. however. is the serious fact
| that a new Russia is beginning to
| stored to what we regard as eco
nomic or political sanity, but Rus
sia beginning to combine new ideas
| with old systems. as the French did.
| in their revolution. This new Russia
is becoming hourly more nationalistic
in spirit. and both bolshevist and ma :.
tionalist Russia have all-sufficing
reasons for hating the western allies
and for making war upon them to
regain lost provinces and to fulhll
old aspirations.
And all of this leads straight TO
collision with Great Britain, leads
to India. Egypt and Mesopotamia.
The single question now is whether
the proffer of peace would now sat
isfy Lenin or, even if accepted for
the moment. permanently satisfy
Russian nationalism, Russian patriot
ism. But at least il is clear that
Britain will shortly have to decide
for peace or for war. The Russian
situation is beginning to clarity and
unless all signs fail We shall very
soon talk again of Russia rather
than of the bolshevists.
(Copyrighted 1890, by the Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate.) -