Evening star., 1920-02-01

| Russia has the same explanation as
all that has gone before. AS far as
| Great Britain and her European allies
| are concerned, and while America
| was in Europe the same thing was
| measurably true of the United States
two circumstances dominate their
| Russian policy.
In the first place the statesmen or
politicians directing governments do
not dare to make war upon Russia
| because of the hostility of the lib
| own countries. In the second place.
| they do not dare to make peace be
| cause of the conservative groups in
their several nations. A year ago
! these statesmen, with the exception,
| perhaps, of the President. believed 1t
! was necessary to make war upon
| bolshevism. But, discovering that
| their own publics would not stand
! for war, they then, with the full ac-
cord of President Wilson, sought to
| approach the goal of peace by the
| Prinkipo pathway.
The British hoped for general dis-
| integration of the vast Russian en-
/ pire. The Russian boundary marched
with that of India for many hundreds
! of miles, since the buffer state of
| Afghanistan was but a polite fiction
| Moreover for the larger part of the
| last century Russia had been re-
! garded by British statesmen as the
| real enemy.
Allies No Longer UppermOst.
This is what has happened. The
! last effort of the allies to deal with
| the Russians. to find some new com
| promise which would avoid making
peace while steering clear of actual
war making, has disclosed the fact
| that the allies can no longer serve
| terms upon Russia. The proposal to
| trade without recognizing the Rus
| sian government has been rejected
| The bolShevists will not even permit
allied ships to enter Russian ports.
This means that the allies must
| consent to make peace with the boil
| shevists on Lenin's conditions or face
! a situation in which they viii hnd
| themselves actually at war with the
| bolshevists. obliged to confess to their
| own publics that it is war 1t means:
| too an enormous enhancement OIL
| bolshevist prestige. II is Demon
| stration, bound to have tremendous
| domestic effect, that the bolshevists
| are not only masters at nome, put
| able to take a high tone with Europe.
And it is the British who must face
| the problem with the first anxiety. II
| Lloyd George does not consent TO make
/ peace WIFI Leliiil- l|Siiiii 'i'A0
! of his own. Russian troops, striking
hands with all the various Moslem
/ tribes all the way from Persia TO
| Afshanistan, can level blow at India.
| He can even use the Mohammedan eie-
| ment to spread further disorder in In
dia itself. At the same time he can
use the Turks and the kurdS in Asia
| Minor to prepare the way for an at
! tack upon Mesopotamia, upon Bagdad
at once and Cairo ultimately.
Great Britnin's stand.
Britain then will make peace with
| the bolshevists if she can. even II the
peace has certain element of hu-
| initiation in it. But Will the bolshe-
yiStS will Russia make peace, or VIII
any peace be more than truce? In
word, is there now any real solution
of the British imperial problems
| raised by Russia, outside OF actual
! war. of military operations on a large
| if the outer rampartS of the empire
are to be defended?
If the bolshevist control of Russia
| is not weakening. it is undergoing
transformation. 1t is becoming less
factional and more national With the
armies, the best brains, military and
civilian alike. are more and more en-
| listing in the service of the Russian
state.
Of course. it may be that Russia in
regaining unity will become pacific
renounce the bolshevist ideas. resume
her place alongside the western ma
tions. This is what seems to be in
most minds today when Russia is
discussed.
Russia may make a truce now, but
is there any real reason why she
should make anything more. In any
event she will find herself diminished.
Poland and the Baltic provinces are
lost, BeSsarabia and Finland; Japan
eSe occupation of eastern Siberia will
doubtless endure for long time. All
of these circumstances will consti-
tute grievances for the Russian pa
triots and the more nationalistic Rus
sia becomes the more intolerable these
grievances will appear.
But this is not all. Not only will
the Russians of the future see all the
ACQUISITIONS of their predecessors
self, lost but they will see them in
infirm hands; they will see them held by
races incapable of maintaining their
grip. Poland. Finland. the Baltic
states cannot collectively or severally
stand up against a Russian attack,
she was before the war, state of
more than 125. 900. 900. even with the
border states omitted. And in addi-
ton the Russians will find in the Ger
mans ready associates in any new
Polish partition.
Germany's Position Doubtful.
If Germany would consent to stand
with the west against Russia the
Russian peril would not assume the
same proportions. But Germany and
Russia German and Russian nation
aliSm may easily have common OBJ
jects, or objects which do not con-
f1ict They may be as ready to di-
vida NanO1pnn and
Alexander at Tilsit. Granted even
that Germany would resist a Russia
purely bolshevist. the more that Rus
sia moves toward nationalistic ideas
the easier would be an association.
Moreover. Germany needs Russia
and Russia needs Germany on the
economic side. The real hope of Ger
man recovery lies in the possibility
Of exploiting Russian resources and
the true promise of economic and in
dustrial development in Russia may
be found in the possibility that Ger
man system will be applied to Rus
sian natural wealth.
But such an association. any as
sociation, between Germany and Rus
sia. infallibly menaceS the British
even more than the French, because.
while the French might have to fore !
go any resistance to such a comolna-
tinental group, as did the several
European powers in the Napoleonic |
period, there are no terms for the |
British. either from the Germans or
the Russians.
Even in Paris the few Russians ac-
tually there talked with perfect |
frankness as to the future. They |
asserted that their ruin was due in |
large measure to the British: that
the British desired to prevent Russia |
from becoming once more strong
nation; that the British desired to
perpetuate condition of anarchy !
xxxillins to to Prin=