Evening star., 1925-10-17

against Germany IN the matter of
| Austria.
Again, while Italy sympathiZes pro-
! foundly with all British endeavor TO
| curb French influence and prevent
| French supremacy on the continent,
Italy looks with almost as much bit
terness upon British as French power
| in the Mediterranean and resents Brit
| ish possession of Malta even more
| acutely than French occupation of
| Tunis. Above all, Italy passionately
resentS the British support of the
| Greek, who, economically and politi
| cally, bars the way to Italian eXpan-
sion in the Near East.
| Italy would then very naturally Join
with Germany in supporting Turkey
| against Britain and against Greece in
| the Near East, precisely as she would
| join Britain and Germany in blocking
| France on the continent, but she is
| condemned in the nature of things to
| stand with France in the matter of
, the Austrian union. She is vitally con-
| cerned in preventing Germany from
crushing France because such a tri-
| umph could only be a prelude to the
annexation of Bohemia and Moravia
as we'll as Austria, the recreation Of
| Mitteleuropa and the death knell to
| and the Near East.
- x x
On the other hand. she needs Ger
man support, as we'll as British, TO
| engineer the restriction of French in
| fluence in Central Europe. The Italian
| play is. then, quite obviously to ex-
| plot the rivalries of Britain and
| France and Germany against each
| other and in accordance with her own
interests. She desires to become the
deciding force of the continent, to hold
the balance of power as between
| France and Germany, but quite pat
emily she cannot afford to be left out
| of so important an arrangement as
that now being sketched at Locarno.
To clear his hands for the larger
European game Mussolini has already
very clearly made peace with Jugo-
slavia. AS long as France could auto
matically mobilize the Jugoslav army
on the Italian frontier. Italy was abso-
lutely restricted in her operations
against France. To free her hand Of
this restraint Italy had to abandon
her hostility to Slav aspirations in
| the Adriatic, she had to accept the
fact of a strong new Slav state on her
| boundaries. But she has done this,
while the reconciliation of the Croat
and the Serb seems to have cleared
the domestic obstacles to Jugoslav
unity and strength.
X X X \
Now with great ambitions, clearly
| defined objectives which are only in
| part identical with the interests of
any other power. Italy is joining in
the Locarno decisions. Quite as much
as Germany she is the unknown fac
tor in the future, and quite as much
as Germany she has aspirations which
| can only be realized as detail In pro-
found notifications of existing condi-
tions. Thus her adherence to the
Locarno pact cannot safely be set
down to a mere readiness to join in
the guarantee of peace based on the
status quo. Like Germany, italy de-
sires to break French supremacy on
the continent and destroy French in.
fluence in Central Europe, but in do
ing this she has to avoid any sub
stitution Of German, she must get
France out Of Prague without getting
Germany into Vienna or Prague.
Italy, then, has to play the most
complicated, difficult and outwardly
bewildering game Of any Of the great
powers in cotemporary Europe. And
in following her play it is essential
always to perceive that her ends are
never identical with any other nation,
although there may be momentary
similarities or temporary advantage
in taking one side against the other.
y (CopyyiEht. .1026A