Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1936-02-27
INTERNATIONAL
NEWS REVIEW
BY GEORG sTRANDVOLD

THAT war lies close ahead is the
conviction of the great majority of
the population of Europe; it is not so
much a conviction as an instinct; the
peoples of Europe feel the hot breath
of the coming storm. Things are far
worse than in 1914, is the phrase on
every lip.
1t may be suggested that such state
ments are to be taken with dose OF
salt; in the first place, the known
affiliations of the observer-in Rome
and Berlin-arouse suspicion; in the
second place, he cannot knOw--nO one
can know-what is at the present mo-
ment the conviction of "the great ma .
| jority'; in the third place, he nor any
one else knows what phrase is ION
every lip; in the fourth place, The
military weakness of some of the ma
jor powers points away from the pos
Sibility of an imminent war.
But alarmist statements of just this
| kind are dangerous for the reason
that they create the ObSesSiCn of the
| nearness of war. and, for the further
reason, that they are generally read
specifically. Some of the pronounce
ments of this nature seem to be in
spired by groups economically inter
ested in fostering war sentiment, for
the more you talk war, the more
| arms and munitions are sold.
International COnSte relations.
OF course, one cannot ignore the
| fact that there exists in our world
today situation which, ultimately,
may lead to conflict; it is not so much
| because of the lo-Ethiopian war as
| because of fundamental differeni ;
| talism and that of socialism: in more
| recent years they have-to some eX-
| tent-becOme merged with, or abb
sorbed by, what is known as faSciSm
and communism.
One significant difference between
| these systems is that while fasciSm
| thrives on militarism, communism in
| ny out its principles because of the
hostility of fascist nations.
The two main currents of modern
| day international life are quite con
spicuOus in the series of diplomatic
conferences which have been in pro-
gress during the last two or three
| weeks.
A direct cause of the revived in
| terest in alliances is the treaty be-
tween Russia and France-betwecn
a communistic and a capitalistic cOun-
| try. Germany considers a Franco
Russian alliance aimed against her
self And thus we hear rumOrS of a
possible German-Italian-Ja panese en-
tente: also of some sort of agreement
| between Germany. Italy, Austria.
| Hungary and Poland, the nucleus Of
which would be the old Triple Ali
ance.
As the situation is defined in Ber-
| lin and Rome, it is to be a fight
| against Russian communism: the five
aforementioned nations are fanatical-
ly anti-Russian because they them
selves have fascist governments in one
| form or another. Should Japan be in
cluded in the new constellation, its
intent becomes more obvious than
even now, for then Russia will be
menaced in Europe by especially Ger
many and Poland, in Asia by Japan.
Great Britain Interested.
| With bated breath British states
men are observing the new trend of
events on the continent: Great Bri-
tain does not want any more allan
| lao
in violation of a number of interna-
tional agreements already existing
for the one purpose of preserving
peace.
But British influence lately has
been as badly weakened as has that
Of the League of Nations While it
has been known for quite some time
that Great Britain really did not
want to see Italy swallow up little
Ethiopia, it has also been cOnjectured
that Great Britain heartily disliked
the possibility of an Ethiopian victory
because that might effect her own
prestige as colonial power and put
ideas into the heads of suppressed
populations in colonies won by con
quest
A few days ago an Italian newspa-
per published the contents of Sc
cret British document. evidently stOl-
en- from the foreign-office archives
in London; this document proved the
contention that Great Britain has no
objection to an Italian victory in
Ethiopia. True as this may be, since
the statement has met with no de-
NAL, it explains the entire British
attitude toward Italy and Ethiopia.
1t explains, also, why the Italian war
of aggression is permitted to go on
without serious intervention on the
part of the League of Nations, form
matters such as these-the League
does Great Britain's bidding.
And thus it seems foreOrdained that
whether Ethiopia wins or loses, TIA
ly will, somehow, get what she wants
with the tacit connivance of Great
Britain and on the basis of that Sc
cret treaty of 1906 by which Great
Britain, France and Italy decided to
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