Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1939-09-14
INTERNATIONAL
NEWS REVIEW
Continued from Page u
Plan of BelligerentS.

There are at present very few OPP
portunities of arriving at accurate ap-
praisal of the situation, but as the
war goes on, it becomes evident that
Germany's plan is to complete the
conquest of Poland and then con-
front Great Britain and France with
such an accomplished fact as a talk
ing point in an effort to shorten the
war. 1t also seems evident that
Great Britain and France are in no
mood to listen to proposals of that
kind; they have solemnly avowed
that they are out to crush Hitlerism
and will not compromise.
AS far as can be seen, the general
plan of Great Britain and France
is to engage the Germans so heavily
at the Franco-German line that it
will become necessary for the Ger
man high command to divert many
divisions from the Polish battle
fields, thus relieving the tremendous
German pressure on Poland.
The Neutrals.
world, Germany's alliance partner,
Italy, remains neutral; some reports
are to the effect that Mussolini is
pretty sore at Hitler for having pre-
cipitated the present war on what
Mussolini has always considered a
most flimsy pretext (Danzig); 9TH
ers maintain that Mussolini is in no
position to take part in any large
scale war. Whatever the reason may
be, Italy so far remains neutral, and
there have even been faint-very
faint-hints that if the Italian gov
eminent sees a greater advantage in
joining Great Britain and France, it
may do so for the sake of expediency;
such an opportunistic course was
chosen by Italy in 1915 when it left
the Triple Alliance and aligned itself
with the Observation-Disclosures En-
tente.
Russia remains as enigma. That
vast country is officially stated to be
neutral, and there is no reason for
doubling that it wants to respect its
own declaration of neutrality, all the
more so since it now has a non-ag-
erosion treaty with Germany. But,
so far it has not been explained
why 100000 Russian soldiers were
rushed to the Polish frontier during
the last few days before the war
broke out. And rumors persist that
the non-aggression agreement be-
tween Berlin and Moscow very easily
may be converted into an actual ALI
ance. In that case, of course, Great
Britain and France will have to sit
up and take notice, for combina-
ton of German and Russian forces
is factor which will be pretty hard
to get around.
Germany's other neighbors, Hun
gary, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Hol-
land, Belgium and Denmark, have
reiterated their professions of neu-
trality; there have been a few re-
ported minor violations of such neu-
trality-notably in Holland and Den
mark, and it is feared that not only
Hungary and Yugoslavia but also
the remoter Roumania may weaken
under German pressure and, sooner
or later, join the Hitler forces. At
the present moment, however, Ger
many is fighting alone, and on the
opposite side are Poland, Great Brit
ain (and dominions) and France, and
no one else. What may happen as
the war drags on, no one is in position
to know.
Principles at Stake.
During the preceding world war
it was claimed that the Allied and
Associated Powers set out to crush
autocracy and to make the world
safe for democracy. Autocracy has
not been crushed, and there is less
democracy in the world than Is years
ago. Now we hear the same slogan
that Autocracy-more specifically,
Hitlerism-is to be crushed. Many
observers hold that the time to crush
it was a year ago when Germany,
with the assent of two of the democ-
racies-Great Britain and France
took over Sudetenland and thus was
given the opportunity of swallowing
all the rest of Czechoslovakia six
months later. And many are still
wondering why it should be more
imperative for Great Britain and
France to rush to the aid of Poland
when they did not move a finger in
behalf of Czechoslovakia, also guar
anteed by them.
No one can judge the merits or
the dement's of the warning nations
at this time, but it may be well to
remember that yielding-as, for in
stance, on the part of the British and
the French last year-may be as great
q calISe of war as is direct agrees