The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1937-12-13
SOVIET RUSSIA ALERT

AS the situation becomes more tense in the Orier
he place that Soviet Russia plays in the picture b
mes more important. Russia is pledged to prote
ongoa which flanks Japanese controlled Manchl
10. Any action Japan may take in pushing towal
utter Mongolia can start trouble that front writ
arold Denny in dispatch to the New York Time
ointng out the danger, Mr.. Denny says:
The Soviet press which virtually is the only
channel through which the government dis
closes its views, has had surprisingly little to
say about current Far Eastern events consider
ing their powerful bearing on the Soviet's vital
interests But that this reticence by no means
indicates any lack of watchful concern in high
quarters and especially in the higher command
of the Red Army shown pontedly in an
article in the General Staff's organ Krasnya
zvezga, fatty warning Japan that the Soviet
Union meant what ii said when it signed the
mutual assistance pact with Outer Mongolia
known politically as the Monaghan Peoples
Republic on March H. 1886.
By this pact which had actually existed as
gentlemen's agreement since November
1884, both countries bound themselves ito give
all assistance, including military aid in case
either is attacked"
For two reasons, one political and the other
strategic, Outer Mongolia is of intense i'm
portance to the Soviet Union. First it is bound
by close political ties to the Soviet Union
After the BolsheviSt revolution Outer Mon
golia was overrun with White Guard detach-
ments acting as tools of the Japanese, and
Mongolia freed from them only with the
aid of Russian Red Guards Under Moscows
tutelage the revolutionary party shaped new
governmental economic structure patterned
along Soviet lines.
Indeed Outer Mongolia is closer in many
ways to Russia than to China-of which it
constitutes a mart the Soviet ha 1lv
recognized ever since the signing of the mutual
assistance pact
Strategically Outer Mongolia is buffer
State, protecting the Soviet's most vulnerable
border Any enemy mastering Outer Mongolia
would be in a position to thrust into the
Soviet's flank in the Baikal region and
threaten to sever the whole Soviet Far East
from the remainder of the Soviet Union.
Japanese statesmen would sleep better
nights if they possessed the Soviet's maritime
provinces. Should break out between
Russia and Japan, Soviet filters, in huge long
range bombers, could do terrific damage to
japanese Industrial centers
So Japan has long had an eye ON Outer
Mongolia. Since 1888 Japan has been pene-
trating into Inner Mongolia-also part of
China and lying between China proper and
Outer Mongolia. Japans new war in China
and her present over-running of Chahar and
Suiyuan Provinces on the Outer Monaghan
border make threat TO the integrity of Outer
Mongolia and hence to the safety of the Soviet
Far East
That, of course, is why the Red Army saw
fit to utter its blunt warning that the peoples
of the Soviet Union are bound by treaty of
friendship with the free Monaghan people and
will help them if needed TO answer the blow
of japanese aggressors with a SCATTERING
blow"
But the danger against which the Soviet
is preparing itself is not immediate Before
Japan can enter on any adventure aimed
directly at the Soviet she must first conquer