Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-11-12

These German citizens are 1Dait
tory to Leaving Estonia under terms
A few days ago Soviet troops took pos
session of Estonian coastal towns fol-
lowing the signing Of Soviet Estonian
treaty on which the ink hardly had time
to dry. Next week the Soviet government
will have completed the equipment Of
three air bases on the Baltic coast facing
Finland.
These two events would not take more
than 10 lines in news dispatch, but
the international chess game. Of which
they are two important moves, might
take 20 years to be completed
The first great changes wrought by
the present war took place in Eastern
Europe. The same thing happened at
the end of the last war. We see once more
the great western powers fighting over
events that took their start in Eastern
Europe, that great reservoir of people
and rivalries reaching from the Baltic
to the Dardanelles, and where differences
are settled "by armed diplomacy"
At present great many changes are
taking place in these regions. Some are
but the repetition Of history while others
are of an entirely new character Many
great powers have taken to the habit of
settling their quarrels on Baltic terri
tory. that is, in Estonia. Latvia and
Lithuania. Finland, racial sister Of Es-
tonia, occupies geographically an Alto
gether more fortunate position and con-
sequently has been subjected to less SUI
fering in the past.
Baltic, Balkans Shaken.
The Baltic States have been dominated
by Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Poland
and Russia. The Balkans have known
Turkish, Russian, German and Italian
domination. This great Eastern Euro
pean territory inhabited by 100000 900
people, Baltic and Balkans together, has
been shaken to its very foundation by
almost every war that took place in the
West. The great western powers who
fought wars among themselves at the
other end Of Europe always offered at
the conclusion of these wars their help
for the establishment of what they called
new order" but of which the famous
remark of French statesman, THE more
1t changes, the more 1t remains the same
thing can truthfully be said.
Let's take look at the situation in the
North. When the Baltic states were
considering the possibility of falling
some day under strong German or
Russian influence, they had reason to
believe that Hitler would oppose Stains
aims and vice versa. The likelihood of
Hitler-Stalin alliance had also been
taken into consideration by them, but
the speed with which this alliance was
concluded was impossible to be foreseen,
Today we are faced by the fact that
Russia is consolidating its military and
economic stand in these regions, while
Germany Is abandoning an economical,
ethnographical and cultural position
that she has held for TOO years. The
possession Of Baltic territory has always
been the privilege of the dominant
powers in the Northeast. When Dem
mark was at the peak of its power she
occupied Estonia. When Germany DUR
Ing the Crusades undertook its expan-
sion toward the East she seized the Baltic
States. When Sweden was all powerful,
she dominated those same countries.
Later when Gar Peter the Great wanted
to open his famous window on Europe"
he drove the Swedes out of Latvia and
Estonia, taking all their principal naval
bases. We must remember that it was
only after that conquest that Peter took
the title of Emperor.
Baltic States Neutral.
Today the Baltic countries are neutral.
1t is customary in Europe to tabulate
the amount of respect due to neutrality
according to the usefulness Of that neu-
trality to other powers or to the strength
of the neutral power exerting it and
sometimes by the ancientness of that
neutrality. This last feature, unfortu-
nately, is taken into consideration far
less than the two preceding ones, but If
1t is applied to the Baltic countries they
will have a special right to it since none
OF them has waged an aggressive war
for the last 800 years. They are willing
to love their neighbors as long as those
neighbors will refrain from settling their
differences In their backyard. Their de-
sire for friendship with the neighbor-
ing states is. as rule, the basic and pre-
dominant feature of their foreign poll
| tics.
Russia, taking advantage of the oppor-
tunity that offered itself to her, following
the signature of her non aggressive
treaty with Germany and the liquidation
OF Poland. asked Estonia to send dele
cation to Moscow In order to discuss the
establishment Of new relationship be-
tween the two countries. The delegates
arrived by plane. The result of those
negotiations was the signature of treaty
giving Soviet Russia the right to estab-
Hsh naval and air bases, garrisoned, Of
course, by Soviet troops, on the Estonian
coast. The same thing took place in
Lithuania and Latvia.
| What are those bases and what is
their importance? Thirty miles west of
Tallinn there is . small town of TOO in
habitants that always had great ambi-
tons and whose history Is quite inter-
esting. It is called Port Baltic. It lies
on bay whose great depth prevents the
water from freezing during the cold
Northern winter OnnositA that hev ara