Evening star., 1936-01-05
BY FRANK SIMONDS.
TITLE by little, as the curtain

TITLE Dy utGle, dS Cue eui VoAAi
is lifted at the corners to per-
NIT the world to see some
A thing of the realities of the
contemporary European situation, IT
is becoming evident that. the next few
weeks must see Great Britain making
one of the most momentous decisions
in modern history. Beyond any ques-
ton the fate of Fascist Italy is now
in British hands.
Mlssolini's failure to seize, instantly
the opportunity provided by the
Hoare-Laval proposals has deprived
him of a chance which may well be
the last, for while French policy,
whether directed by Laval or by an
other, will continue to endeavor to
halt and hamper all English efforts to
drive II Duce to desperate action, it
cannot now arrest forces already set
in motion.
What the British have to decide,
however, is whether the smashing of
Fascist Italy will be a too costly
achievement if it insures not merely
the complete domination of China by
the japanese, but also the control of
Central Europe by national Socialist
Germany. AS to japanese hegemony
in the Far East, that has now been
assured by British procedure in the
recent past. Once the British fleet
was committed to the Mediterranean,
japanese hands were free, and it is
already clear how fully the oppor-
tunity has been embraced.
German Threat Countered.
At the precise moment when the
Hoare-Laval proposals were sub
mitted to the British cabinet. it is
now evident, London was suddenly put
on notice of German purpose to eX-
plot an opportunity in Europe not
less alluring than that of the Jap
anese in Asia. Confronted by the OBJ
vious probability that further advance
along the perilous pathway of sane
tions would provoke violent Italian
reaction, the British government dis
creetly made inquiries in Berlin as to
the possibility of an agreement lin
iting German air forces.
BY the naval agreement of June
the British had persuaded the Ger
mans to accept as a limit for their
fleet 35 per cent ratio vis-a-vis
themselves. If they could get an
equally favorable bargain in the mat
ter of air force. then with their
anxieties as to Germany set at rest
the British could proceed to clamp
down on the Italians and destroy
Fascist Italy without fear of having
to deal subsequently with an i'm
mensely strengthened Germany.
But the British government dis
covered promptly that Hitler was not
unaware of the cards which had been
thrust into his hands. The German
dictator angrily rejected any proposal
for agreement on air terms which was
not accompanied by specific promise
of the return of the German colonies
taken by the Treaty of Versailles, and
q further assent to Nazi expanSionist
plans as these related to Austria and
the western portion of Czechoslovakia.
In other words, Hitler's price for con-
tinuing neutral in the Anglo Italian
quarrel and for setting a limit to his
air forces was British license to re-
construct Mitteleuropa.
Compromise Defeats Hoare.
Obviously it seemed cheaper and
safer to Baldwin and his associates
in the British Cabinet to let Mussolini
have generous slice of Ethiopian
territory and thus wind up the Anglo
italian dispute than to become further
involved in the Mediterranean and
thus enable Hitler to push on both
with his armaments and his annex
ationist plans. The British public,
however, completely unaware of the
new German complication, insurged
against the proposed compromise
(Which had been betrayed to French
journalist by Anthony Eden and
Hoare paid the price of his attempt
at licuidating the Mediterranean en-
broglio.
Nevertheless the problem remains.
Great Britain cannot advance along
the road of sanctions without playing
the German game. If Mussolini, driven
to desperation, lets loose an air and
naval attack upon the British fleet
and the British garrison in Malta,
Egypt and Palestine, Germany can
march into Vienna and Prague opposed
only by the relatively unimportant
military forces of Czechoslovakia and
Rumania, backed to some slight de-
gree perhaps by Soviet Union troops
Meantime Red Russia will be faced
by japanese threat in the Far East.
AS for Yugoslavia, its energies will be
concentrated upon taking Fiume and
Trieste from Italy.
This is the situation which the
French have foreseen from the be-
ginning. For them the Anglo Italian
quarrel has always seemed certain in
the end to make inevitable German
hegemony in Central and Eastern
Europe. If, moreover. the British
eventually force war upon the Ital-
ians, it is far from unlikely that the
French will end by coming to terms
with Berlin. Merely by washing their
hands of all Eastern concerns the
French can purchase immunity on the
Rhine for considerable time at least.
fA44O UAlcU, VI SOu1 &c, LOO bCCl4 4il 1Adfdl
mind for long time AS long as Italy
stood with France in common pur-
pose to maintain the status quo in
Central Europe. so long France felt
able to oppose German designs upon
Austria and Czechoslovakia.
France Flirts With Hitler.
The French recognize that they
cannot alone halt German enterprises
on the Danube. AS a consequence
they may very well decide to leave
Ccechoslovakia to its fate and make
bilateral settlement with the Ger.
mans. italy, whatever happens, will
thenceforth for a generation at least
be anti-British in spirit and ready
to join hands with any continental
opponent of England. Having mop
ped up Central Europe and estab-
1ished their own system of alliances,
the Germans will then be ready for
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