Evening star., 1941-01-24

give their towns. 1t is quite prob
able that we may decide to do some
fighting and dying for dear old
Ding Dong" before this world crisis
passes.
That Is only another way of say
ing that British control of Singapore
is just as important to our safety
as is British control Of the Channel
and the Mediterranean. For Singa-
pore is not only the naval key to the
Dutch East Indies, the Philippines
and the South China Sea. That is
only an eastward view. Looking
westward. with the Japanese, Singa-
pore is also the key to the Indian
Ocean, India, the Red Sea and the
eastern end Of the Suez Canal.
Seizure of Singapore.
If Japan were to seize Singapore,
our policy of all-out aid to England
would be bankrupted. For India is
an economic and industrial base for
the whole British war effort in the
Near East, and is the source of many
of the supplies on which London
must depend for the defense Of
Britain. We could no more be in
different to the seizure of Singa-
pore by an out-of-town member Of
the axis than we could ignore axis
seizure Of Gibraltar, the Azores or
Ireland.
AS matters stand, the japanese
Navy feels convinced that a raid on
Singapore would run the frightful
risks of war with the United States.
Toxic feels pretty confident that we
have no aggressive intentions of our
own at present. With OUR battle
feet at Hawaii, we are in a position
to act If our interests are menaced.
We are reinforcing our garrisons and
our naval and air bases in the en-.
tire Pacific area, but we have given
no sign of an all-out policy in Asia
to match our policy in Europe. Un-
der these circumstances. Singapore
is safe, unless and until England is
defeated or America becomes so fas-
cinated by the European end of the
war that our strategists lose their
senses.
That we have no such intention
Is shown by the recent easing Of the
embargo on shipments to Soviet
Russia's Far Eastern empire. The
game Of power politics being played
by Moscow in Asia is one Of the won-
ders of the modern diplomatic
world. Siam and French Indo-China
are engaged in an undeclared war.
Chlang Kai-shek is fighting the
Chinese Communists as the Jap
anese Army retires. Japan herself
is confused, weakened and is faced
| With bad morale and no apparent
end to the interminaole struggle
for the new order in Asia" India
is teeming with vocal discomfort
against British rule but little ap-
parent desire to take Nazi or jap
anese overlords in place of the
Sahibs of King George. Russia has
Just politely rejected japanese re-
quests for a "non-aggression pact"
Three Factors of Stability.
Into this picture are dovetailed
three factors of stability-the Brit
lsh, the Russians and the United
States. The British are compelled
to remain on the defensive in Asia
and to hold Singapore at all costs.
The Russians are reluctant to see
Japan aggrandized. We are all set,
In q naval way, to 60 to town if
Singapore is menaced-but other
wise have no desire to start any,
thing. Between these three forces,
the axis is unable to create any
serious diversion in Asia which
would lessen British fighting power
in Europe or force the United States
to cease sending munitions to Eng
land.
So. no matter what the headlines
may say or the star-spangled COL
umnists may write, about dying for
dear old Ding Dong" Washington
has its eyes (and its Navy watching
Singapore. After all, who ever heard
Of a little Belgian town named
Waterloo before June day in
1915? And was Saratoga noted on
any British war maps before a GER
tain Gen. Burgoyne surrendered at
that spot in 1777? Who knew of the
existence of a little town called
Gettysburg before July l, 1868? So
1t may be that dear old Ding Dong"
or some other remote and funny
name in small letters on the map will
witness the next Armageddon-the
next battle of the nations in which
we take part.
(Released BY Consolidated News
Features. Inc)