Evening star., 1935-11-24
WORLD is FACING PERIOD
OF BRITISH SUPREMACY
Fleet to Be Strengthened With Return
to Practice of Balance of
Power Policies.

1
ritorial conditions in the west. But
II they, with or without the jap
anese, choose to seek expansion at
the expense Of the Soviet Union,
then there is little reason why they
should expect British opposition. In
due course the British will recognize
Japan's position in Manchuria and
in the forthcoming naval conference
American delegates may look forward
to having to fight single-handedly to
preserve the 5-5-3 ratio.
Tories Want Blow at Russia.
What Tory England wants to do
most of all now is to deal blow
to Communist Russia comparable to
the blow it recently leveled at Fascist
Italy. In striking Mussolini it has
been able to rally British Labor. In
striking Red Russia it will meet Labor
opposition, but for several years that
| opposition will be impotent. If, more
over, japanese attention can be de-
f1ected from south to west-that is,
in the direction Of Siberia and not
India and Australia-BritiSh security
will be advantaged. If Germany, in
the same way, can be thrown against
the Soviet Union, it will be kept oc-
cupied and again Britain will be fa-
vored.
France has to be persuaded to
drop the Soviet Union as she was
bludgeoned into abandoning Italy in
the recent Ethiopian crisis. But the
same means of coercion exists. The
French can again be told quite bru-
tally, as Sir Austen Chamberlain told
them recently, that if they refuse
to follow British dictation then they
must expect to be left to face Germany
alone. And, Of course, the conserva-
tive elements in France are as little
enamored of Communist Russia as
are their opposite numbers across the
Channel.
Fascism and Communism are
equally threats to the Tories because
the former, particularly in the Italian
case, nourishes designs perilous for
British imperial interests, while the
latter constitutes an enduring threat
to the survival Of the capitalistic
system. Having exploited the Soviet
Union to assist in its assault Of
Italian FaScism, British policy will
unquestionably seek to employ Ger
man National Socialism against Red
Russia. And, perhaps, if MuSsolini
abandons his unpleasant purposes in
regions particularly sensitive, he may
be restored to favor and permitted
the rewards which belong to truly
modest second class powers.
The League against Italy, France
agains. Germany, Germany and
Japan against the Soviet Union, that
is the British balance of power game
as it is now to be played. Meantime
the British feet will be materially
strengthened, the British air force
brought up to parity with the German
and the threat Of hunger blockade
forever suspended over the heads Of
both the Germans and the Italians.
If any one makes a move contrary to
British wishes, the British are in q
position to throw one or more other
nations against that country and sup.
ply the necessary support for this at.
tack by their air and sea power
Unless the United States can be per.
suaded to join in this British set-up
by coming to Geneva the British Tories
are likely to cool in their ardor for the
League presently, because there still
remain some of the smaller states
which have taken the League seriously
as an international agency. And hav-
ing resisted French attempts to use it
as an adjunct of the Quai d'Orsay,
these are apt to resent the effort to
make it an annex of the foreign Office.
On the other hand, if the United
States came to Geneva it would be
sure to follow British leading and then
the smaller states would have to do
| likewise Therefore the tactics of
recent months are sure to be pursued
further.
If, however. the United States re-
sistS this pressure, then it may be
necessary for the British to go back
to the balance of power game with us
also. In that case at the naval con-
ference and after British encourage.
ment will be discreetly given TO jap
anese naval demands and American
Japanese tension, happily reduced in
recent months, will become acute
again. Then Great Britain will ap-
pear as the friend alike of Washington
and Toxic, seeking in the interests of
the latter to persuade the former to
modify its insistence upon the $50
ratio. Obviously Japan will be CRATE
full, the United States resentful and
Anglo-Japanese friendship restored.
Thereafter. completely absorbed by a
new Pacific crisis, too, the United
States will have neither the time nor
the strength to interest itself in
Europe, where except as an unques-
tioning ally, the British do not want
us. They will use every means in an
attempt to force upon us a policy OF
armed isolation as an alternative to
following the British banner at the
League.
(Copyrighk 1887