Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-11-15
Foqbound Diplomacy


Berlin's announcement, after Wy
acheslaff Moloto1 had returned to
Moscow, Of a mutual accord" be-
tween Germany and Russia on all
important questions-an accord "of
such monumental import that any
commentary thereon would be tan
tamount to a limitation Of IT,
harmonizes perfectly with the fog
enveloping this latest diplomatic
maneuver of the totalitarian powers.
The nature of the agreement ar
rived at, If any, remains the closely
held secret of Hitler, Stain and their
immediate aides. Berlin dispatches
indicate that even the unhappy
Duce has been left, for the time
being at least, to play a guessing
game, and certainly those outside
the totalitarian capitals must be
content for the moment with sheer
speculation. But the meaningless
character of the Nazi communique
does not necessarily indicate that
the conferences for which Moloto6
left his native Russia for the first
time failed to result in any sub
stantial agreement.
From Hitler's viewpoint, the war
has been going very badly. His
long heralded speedy conquest of
Britain has turned into a dismal
nightmare and the need for sue
cesses in other directions is becom-
ing imperative At the moment his
Fascist ally is hopelessly mired in
the Pindus Mountains and British
prestige in the Eastern Mediter-
ranean is rising. In this situation
the Fuehrer has a choice between
another bitter winter Of relative in
action and a desperate thrust to
the southeast, which, If successful,
could pay rich dividends. But, be-
yond the limited objective of reliev-
ing the pressure on the Italians by
striking through Bulgaria to the
Greek port of Salonika, there is not
a great deal to be accomplished in
this direction unless the immobilized
NaZi legions can pass through Tur-
key and Syria to Palestine and the
Suez Canal.
The Turks, however, are allied with
Britain and have stated their deter
mination to fight If attacked-an
assurance which very probably would
be kept If Russia could be depended
upon to remain sympathetically neu-
trail. It is for this reason that in
terest attaches to an Associated Press
dispatch from Berlin to the effect
that Russia and Germany expect
Turkey to fall into line with their
plans, whatever they may be. This
dispatch, of course, may rest on Nazi
propaganda, but it would be foolish
to ignore the possibility that it may
have substance.
In many quarters it has been be-
lieved that Russia's own ambition to
control the Dardanelles, or at least
her purpose to keep this passageway
from the Black Sea to the Mediter-
ranean in the hands of a relatively
weak power, precluded the possibility
Of Russian acquiescence in Nazi
activity in that area. But 1t should
not be forgotten that Russian control
Of the Dardanelles still would leave
the Soviets with access to nothing
more than a closed sea. Nor has
Stain, the Georgian, ever ceased to
look southwark. Since the days of
Peter the Great, who once sent an
Inflated expeditionary force into
Persia, Russia has longed for
window on the Indian Ocean, and it
is by no means impossible that Stain
may be grasping now at chance to
fulfill that ancient dream.
The key to the mystery of what is
being cooked up between the two die
tators obviously lies in Turkey. Any
shift of position there would be
fraught with significance, and it is
to Ankara that the eyes of the world
will be turned in the immediate
future.