Evening star., 1937-11-02
Italy Uber Allies.

ltdIy OUCI AllcSs
II any evidence were needed to en-
phasize Mussolini's passion to have a
finger in every pie, current headlines
would supply it, A random selection
tells the story: Rome and Toxic in
Military Pact-Aimed Principally at En-
barrassing Britain; Haven in Italian
Libya Offered Arabs Fugitive Grand
Mufti"; 'Majorca Harbors 500 Italian
and German Filters, Bruno Mussolini
One of Them: "ItaIo-G German Axis a
Threat to Peace, London Concludes"
etc., etc.
With the Brussels Far Eastern con-
ference about to convene, these diversi-
fled proofs of Italy's ubiquitous "diplo-
macy" assume more than ordinary sig
nif1cance. They presage that II Duces
spokesmen in Belgium will not carry
all of their eggs in one basket. That
circumstance is of importance because
the Italians are expected to enact the
role of unrepresented Japans friends
at court when she is arraigned before
the bar of world opinion for high crimes
and misdemeanors.
The news beneath the headlines sum-
marizing Italys activities and machina-
tions fairly epitomizes the root causes of
present-hour turmoil in Europe and the
Far East Mussolini, of course, is not
1ao 1oiy i,,t >io Dat
whoever and wherever the culprit is, II
Duce appears to be in the offing. Be-
cause of the danger that the strife in
China may flare into world war, the
1talo-Japanese pact, an apparent ex-
tension of the German-Japanese anti
Communist" accord, is of primary omen.
Though the pact was first reported to
concern merely economic issues between
italy and Japan, Rome, Toxic and
Berlin are now revealed in tripartite
agreement "for the defense of humanity
and culture against Communism" 1t
is strongly suspected that this theological
compact masks military understanding
ready to manifest itself in common
action if war in China does not remain
localized" 1t probably aims, among
other things, at keeping Russia at bay,
though Shanghai dispatches suggest
that the main purpose of the Italo-
japanese bed-fellowship is to harass
Great Britain politically and CONNER
cially all the way from Gibraltar to Hong
Kong. Italy's part in that Machiavellian
undertaking would be to chain the lion
in the Mediterranean so that he can
roar to no purpose in the Far East.
Extension of Libya's refuge hos
pitality to the Grand Mufti of the Arabs
has obviously Italian pin-pricking value
against both Britain and France. A
fugitive from Palestine since the re-
crudescence of Arab-Jewish and anti
British strife, Hal Amin Ell Husseini's
presence in italian Africa admirably
serves Mussolini's purposes as self-pro-
claimed Grand Protector Of Islam," at
a moment when France faces Moslem
revolt in Algeria, Tunis and Morocco
and Britain is suppressing Arab rebel
lion in Palestine. Dispatch OF fresh
Italian divisions to Libya reveals Mus
solini's eagerness to fish in troubled
Islamite waters the instant the biting
grows good.
Majorcas occupation by Italo-Ger-
man air forces, which include the II
Duces son, Bruno Mussolini, banishes
any lingering doubt of the plan of
Frances Fascist allies to dominate the
Balearic islands and thrust themselves
squarely athwart Frances lifeline to
her African empire and the British
jugular vein that stretches from Gibral-
tar to Suez.
Small wonder, in presence of Italy's
multifarious meddling, that Foreign
Secretary Eden in the House of Com
mons yesterday refuted Mussolinis de-
mand for restoration of Germany's
"place in the African sum-" In a dev-
astating After you, my dear Alphonse"
gesture, Eden pointed out that it i'll
oecoHico Couiiliy Wiiicu Hdu ltSeu, rs
an outcome of the Great War, gained
very considerable accessions of territory
in Europe and Africa, now to champion
Germanys claim to the African pos
sessions" AS something else to put in
the Fascist pipe and smoke, Mr.. Eden
asserted that Britain "does not admit
the right of any government to call upon
us for contribution when there is no
evidence to show that that government
is prepared to make any contribution on
its own account"