Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-20
MUSSOLINI SEEN RUBBING
SORE SPOTS OF EUROPE
His Support of Peace Treaty Revision
Declared Opening Way to
Endless Friction.

! the German orientation. Nor is it les.
likely that, once this Greater Germany
has become a fact, there will be ar
almost irresistible pressure of the new
German Empire to recover Trieste anC
! thus a gateway on the Adriatic, while
sentimental and racial considerations
will combine to render the question OF
the Upper Adige acute.
| Mussolini is playing for German al
lance to break the PRESENT French SUI
! premacy on the Continent. So far he
has been unsuccessful, because he has
| failed to detach the Central European
states allied with France and sharing
| the French determination to maintain
the status quo OF Paris And he has
been equally unsuccessful in enliSting
German cooperation, because Germany
| remains bitterly resentful of the Ital-
ian desertion of 1914-15.
Having so far failed alike at Berlin
and in Bucharest, Belgrade and Prague
Mussolini has come out into the open
and declared for revision of the peace
treaties in terms which must arouse
interest and revive and strengthen
hopes in Berlin, Budapest, Sofia, even
in Moscow, where any attempt to upset
peace and order and precipitate con-
fusion is necessarily welcome.
tGhUbHCE DdASUE NAtCus
Another danger of the italian play:
Even If Germany should presently join
in, the result would be to replace a
weak w. Austria by a vastly strengthened
Germany at the frontier Of the Alps
and to insure that not italian but Ger
man influence would presently be pre-
dominant from Vienna to Athens. That
the new Italian policy might destroy
French influence and prestige in Eu-
rope is patent, but that italy can profit
by such game is less clear.
OF course, in estimating italian pol
icy it is necessary to avoid the error OF
giving lasting importance to any single
man. At bottom the Duce is an OPP
portunist and while he seems today to
be making a decisive gesture toward
the defeated and dissatisfied peoples, 1t
is Just as possible to see in his move a
definitive warning to France and to her
allies, warning indicative of the dam
gers which may flow from a further
refusal to listen to italian demands.
Manifestly, then, the Duce is fishing in
troubled waters. He is INDUCING in
double play, which on the one hand
may enlist the dissatisfied powers in a
new combination to break down French
control or, on the other, at last per-
suade the French to listen to italy and
agree to the demands of Rome, which
envisage not a revision of the territorial
status of the Continent of Europe, but
a re-shuffling of colonial territories.
For the moment, perhaps, transfer Of
the Syrian mandate from France to
Italy might suffice.
French Position Analysed.
That France will listen to such
threat and make new concessions Is, OF
course, very unlikely. On the other
hand the Italian maneuver comes at
a very awkward moment for the French.
With the evacuation of the Rhineland
completed, the French hold on Ger
many has become almost non-existent.
Germany is at last free to act and she
may seize upon the present Franco
italian tension, not to associate herself
with italy, but to drive her own bargain
with France.
Laying aside all more or less specu-
lative comment, however, 1t Is clear that
the italian move has served to bring
to the fore once more the whole ques-
ton of the existing territorial status
and political combinations in Europe.
The possibility that the Continent win
now settle down for period Of recov-
cry and the New Europe of the peace
treaties take enduring form Is much
slighter MuSsolini's voice raised for
Polish Corridor, the AnSchluSs, of Up
per Silesia, wilma, Bessarabia, Transyl-
vania and the Banat. Slovakia, Croatia
and Macedonia. Deliberately the Duce
has rubbed every sore spot in Europe.
What must be perceived, too, is that
in taking this course the Duce Is not in
the least interested in the principle
which he has invoked, which, so far as
the Continent is concerned, would If
fairly applied result in grave territorial
and strategic loss for his own country.
What he is doing is exploiting the griev-
anceS of the defeated nations for Italian
ends with the chief purpose of weaken
ing the French situation on the Cont
nent.
Europe Aiming Again.
The justification Of Mussolini's vari-
Gus moves must be discovered in the
patent truth that as long as the exist
ing order endures, Italy cannot play the
role of a great power in Europe or rival
French influence. The system of peace
which exists in Europe today is a
French system and for Fascist aspira-
lions, for the realization of the dream
of New Rome, the destruction of the
system is a necessary step.
No one can mistake the risks OF
Italian policy. BY the new maneuver
MuSSOiulL IidS IIldUe pOSolple, IL lOO CcI =
tain, the redivision of Europe into
armed camps. The peace of Europe is
becoming increasingly precarious. More
over, it Is mournful reflection that the
recent rapid accentuation Of bitterness
and unrest is the direct consequence Of
the London Naval Conference, designed
to advance the cause of peace by for
warding the task of disarmament.
tCopyright, 1930)