Evening star., 1940-09-28
New Axis Purtner

Japan's formal adherence to the
Rome Berlin axis is important to
US as an attempt to divert our
attention from the necessity of eX-
tending every possible assistance to
Great Britain in her conduct of the
European war. 1t is of utmost I'M
portance that there be no failure on
our part to grasp this fact.
The interest of Berlin and Rome
In this effort is obvious Having
encountered unexpected resistance
from the British, they must recast
their plans. Their expectation OF
occupying London by mid-August
has been shattered by the valor of
the Royal Air Force and they must
prepare now for an extended war-a
war in which American supplies will
play an increasingly important part.
Germany and Italy have no vital
interest in the Far East. The very
terms of the new axis agreement
allot that sphere to Japan, and we
must conclude that totalitarian
diplomacy is projected into Asia in
the hope of creating a diversion
there which would minimize the
effectiveness of our aid to the British.
It is also important for us to
understand that Japan hopes to
realize both immediate and long
range benefits from her conversion
of the Anti Comintern Pact into an
outright alliance. Already heavily
involved in the China war, the
Japanese undoubtedly hope for a
freer hand in the conduct of that
struggle, and may also plan to use
the new treaty as shield for the
construction of at least limited
version Of their Greater East Asia"
concept. But, in the longer view, the
destruction of Britain is hardly less
important to Japan than to her
axis partners. AS long as the British
maintain even their present position,
any empire that the japanese may
carve out in the Far East will rest
on shaky foundations. There will
be ever present the possibility Of an
ultimate British victory, and then
the prospect-an unhappy one for
Japan-of facing a day of reckoning
with the combined strength of
Britain and a vastly more powerful
United States.
If these considerations are of pro-
found Importance to the axis part
nerS, they are even more vital for
us. If the British should be defeated
we would stand alone as the one
great democracy in the world, gravely
menaced from both front and rear
by predatory enemies. We would
then be truly isolationist, but it
would be an isolationism that had
been forced upon US We would trade
In the world markets at the pleasure
of our enemies, if at all. The ocean
barriers upon which we have so
short -sightedly relied for safety
would become potential avenues of
attack, and there would be no real
security for us. Even if we were
able to maintain form of peace, it
would be without substance, for we
could never know When it might be
shattered by the ambitions of the
combination that has been formed
against us.
For these reasons, then, we must
bend every energy to bolStering
Britain's capacity to carry on the
war. And as Lord Lothian suggested
yesterday, this must be done quickly
If it is to be done at all. There is no
time left for complacency, and if
we fail to comprehend that fact we
are indeed in dire peril.
There is little, if anything, that
we can or should do at this time in
the Far East. For the moment our
hands are more or less tied there by
the paramount Importance of insur-
ing an unceasing flow of supplies to
the British. The initiative in Asia
for the time being must be left to
Japan, and our policy will have to
be determined in the future by the
course that she takes. Our first line
of defense clearly is in Britain, and,
conditions being what they are, we
have no choice but to defend first
things first