Evening star., 1940-11-19
The World Today
Reich Seen Encounterine Obstacles in
Diplomatic Moves to Neutruize Turkey

prevent the pro-British trend, no
ticed everywhere in occupied and
unoccupied France by the projects
themselves, from assuming real po-
litical Importance He is a shrewd
politician and he knows better than
anybody else how to handle public
opinion. He has appointed as head
of the press and censorship bureau
Jean Montigny, an extreme Ger
manophile who visited Hitler in
February, 1896, barely one month
before the Nazis' reoccupation of
the Rhineland, and certainly did not
discourage him.
Obstacles Encountered.
But here are the obstacles. Mar
shall Petain and his private advisers
have managed hitherto to keep M
Laval within some bounds Marshal
Petain is even reported to express
himself about the Vice Prime Min
lister sometimes in terms which par
allel those used by the enemies of
the latter. On the other hand, both
Marshal Petain and NJ Laval have
been closely bound for fully five
years. They had conversation
while attending the funeral of
Joseph Pilsudski in Warsaw in May,
1885, where they agreed that the
parliamentary institutions ought to
be thrown overheard sooner or later
and discussed in a friendly spirit
which one of them, the great soldier
or the experienced wirepuller, would
best be fitted for the task.
Moreover, Marshal Petain cannot
forget that, without Lavals deft
maneuvering, the revolution" which
occurred on June Is would not have
been possible. And Laval must find
it easier to circumvent an octoge-
marian than the Parliament of 1886,
provided he can properly deal with
the encourage.
Last, but not least, Gen. Weygand
must be reckoned with. A good deal
of wishful thinking perhaps has
been reflected in the British press
as far as he is concerned. His posi-
ton is rather ambiguous He dis
likes Petain and Laval and is fully
aware of their feelings toward him.
After more than 20 years. the Bit
ter quarrels between Foch, the su-
preme commander of the Allied
forces, and the pessimistic head of
the French Army still rankle in the
minds of the survivors. Weygand
has become acquainted with North
ern Africa, the magnificent empire
of the French nation, where he had
never set foot before and sees things
which he did not see five months
ago. He feels the pressure of the
French settlers and of the natives,
who are deeply disturbed at the
sight of those 10000 soldiers Spain
has gathered in her part of Morocco
and are afraid to be treated as mere
paWns on Laval's chessboard.
Weygand Embittered.
Weygand has become lonely and
bitter. The armistices with Germany
and Italy were concluded on his
advice, as he maintained that Brit
ish naval and air power would be
done for in few weeks. Since then.
the Germans have caused him to
be dismissed from the Vichy cabinet.
But, when everything has been said,
he remains in internal politics a
fanatical zealot and those who know
him best are not ready to believe
he will ever cast his lot with Eng
land. the champion OF democracy
throughout the world. Besides, it
would hardly be consistent with the
sense he has Of his own dignity to
confess by his deeds that, last spring,
he was in the wrong.
Gen. Weygand's conception, if he
has any, is that the government of
Vichy may safeguard the empire by
letting it alone and, on that account,
he has seriously impeded Laval's