Evening star., 1935-03-10
MOSCOW SEES THREAT
In GERMAN MANETJVERS
Soviet Declared Angling for European
Coalition to Curb Hitler Am.
bitiOns in East.

lii East.
against Russia in the Far East Such
an attack must, too, constitute q
deadly peril to the communistic state
unless the Western capitalistic powers.
France, Great Britain and Italy, are
prepared to undertake compenSating
operations and. in advance of actual
hostilities, to make it clear that they
will stand by the Soviet Union II it
is attacked.
The obvious temptation OF British,
French and Italian statesmanshic.
however, is to let Germany go east
and exhaust herself in a long and
costly war with the Soviet Union.
The patent danger, by contrast, upon
which the Soviets are dwelling con-
Stantly. is that German victory. ac-
companied by the possession of lands
rich in foodstuffs and raw materials,
would enable Germany to turn from
the east to the south and then the
west as she did during the war.
Moscow. too, points out that such
course would be a faithful imita-
ton of Bismarck's threefold per-
formance expressed in his attack upon
Denmark in 1864, upon Austria in
! 1866 and upon France in 1870 I'VE
may suffer a Sadowa, but do not
/ forget that Sadowa was only the pre-
/ lude TO Sedan" is the burden of
Soviet caution to the west.
I Now the British do not want a war
on the continent anywhere and they
see clearly that war in any region
could easily become general. Nor do
thgy mean to assume any RESPONSE
bilities beyond the Rhine. Their pur-
pose, therefore, is to try to get the
Germans back to the League. to
concede to them the equality in arma-
ments they demand-and are going
to have anyWay-and to establish a
truce If not a real state of peace
That is the meaning of Sir John
Simon's present travelogue He is
seeking to persuade the Germans TO
be good, the French to be reasonable.
the Italians to be quiet and the
Soviets TO be calm.
Nothing Left for Moscow.
Unhappily, having offered the
French the new Locarno and the
Italians the promise to come to coun-
/ Gil over Austria. finally having offered
the Germans parity. he has nothing
whatever to offer the Soviets. And
Moscow on its part sees the Soviet
Union made the sacrificial goat of the
whole British diplomatic maneuver.
In fact. it suspects London of saying
/ 70 in, nh
of course-"Go east. young man" And
this suspicion gains force from the
conviction in Russia that the old i'm
perial regime was abandoned to its
| fate by the Western allies during the
war.
Such, briefly, is the game that Is
now being played in Europe. In that
game it is essential to perceive the
League of Nations has no part and
the ideas of Wilson concerning &C.
neva no part. What is gradually
taking form is series Of regional
pacts which constitute alliances-the
old collective idea of Wilson and his
followers has been abandoned as
result Of the exposure of its futility
in the Manchurian affair. Nations
will not go to war to defend the
status quo anywhere save in regions
where their own interests are vital.
Without Willingness upon the part
of nations to lend their forces the
League cannot preserve peace or pro-
tect victim of aggression.
Under such circumstances all that
is possible is to establish a set of
regional pacts. France and Great
Britain are equally concerned to pre-
serve the status quo on the Rhine.
They are. therefore, prepared to fight
to defend it, as, of course, is Belgium.
Italy and Czechoslovakia are SINH
larly concerned with the status quo
in Austria and France is ready to
support Italy on the Danube and
Italy France on the Rhine, because
both see themselves exposed to even-
tual German aggression. Europe is
then being resolved into system
of alliances. which may be registered
in Geneva and disguised as League
inspired. but the truth is that the
League has nothing to do with them
and has been thrust aside in their
making.
Grand Coalition Sought.
! What is in the minds Of the French
! and the SovietS is the creation of a
grand coalition to restrain Germany
such as eventually evolved to defeat
Napoleon. Nominally, such a coal.
| ton could have its headquarters in
Geneva and, theoretically, it would be
| dedicated to the task of war since
it would constitute league of mutual
| defense against German purposes.
But practically it would be an effort
/ to prevent Germany from achieving
/ unity in the Austrian detail just as
much as from realizing forcible an
| neXation of the Ukraine. While, too.
Italy might subscribe to such a coali-
! ton in Europe. she would certainly
not resign her Ethiopian enterprise,
which certainly challenges the whole
League idea.
But to return to the point at which
this article started. Soviet Russia
is now looking to Paris as to London
for some satisfactory proof that
French and British stateSmanships
are equally aware of the necessity
to safeguard its security as we'll as
their own and that the German phe-
nomenon constitutes warning that
all the great powers must hang
together, or in Franklin's phrase, BE
hanged separately"
The thing for the American audi
ence to watch now is the attempts
of Germany in peace and by diplo-
matte instead of military weapons to
achieve what she failed to do during
the World War, until it was too late
in the Russian case, namely, divide
her prospective opponents and dis
pose of them separately. That was
what Napoleon did succeed in doing
for a very long time, only to be
crushed by a coalition of all the
states of the Continent fearful of his
purposes. Soviet Interpretation of the
Hitler phenomenon now insists that
only coalition in advance of conflict
can prevent, not merely the conflict
itself, but also the defeat of the
several opponents of German MIR