Evening star., 1941-07-13
Saws Our 'Self>Defense' Policy
Will Require Aggressive Moves
Occupation of Iceland Cited as Example of Drastic
Acts of Offensive Nature Necessary to
Implement Defense Plan
BY Felix Morley.
BY Felix NJ orIey.

he said: Equally with IcelanO the
Azores and the Cape Verde Islands, II oc-
cupied or controlled by Germany. would
directly endanger the freedom of the At
lantic and our own physical safety"
Under the inalienable right of self
defense" the occupation OF these Portu-
guese islands would be perhaps even
more logical than that of Iceland. The
chief distinction is that Portugal on
May 30 informed Secretary Hull of in
tention to resist any such aggression
with force, while the government of
Iceland has voluntarily accepted Amer
ican military control, under certain stip-
ulated conditions.
But it is doubtful that the threatened
resistance of Portugal or that of any
other weak power would long restrain us
il it seemed clear to the administration
that extension OF our outposts is required
by "the inalienable right of self-defense'
Fallacy of Our Policy.
Before any such development occurs
it may be constructive to point out the
tallacy underlying the doctrine of an
alleged inalenable right of self-defense,
exercised in a manner subject to no re-
Straints except those which are self-lr1-
posed. In a small and overcrowded world
of nations this doctrine cannot be put
into practice by one power without 81
multaneously depriving another power
of its equally valid right
In other words. what is self-defense to
one party is ailIicst inevitably aggression
to the other They are two sides of the
same coin, and a coin made from base
metal at that.
Undoubtedly it is the crime of the
Germans to have made this coin cur.
rency everywhere, and to have estab-
lished what should properly be called
aggressive self-defense as the domi-
nant national policy of the day. But it
Is also the curious idiosyncrasy Of the
Anglo-Saxon to believe, in all SINGER
ity, that a practice which is unpardon-
able in others becomes somehow virtuous
| when adopted by himself.
Because of this idiosyncrasy It seems
| ridiculous to us when japanese ad-
mirals charge that we are endeavoring
to encircle Japan. with British assist
ance. But to the Anglo-Saxon mind it
is simple precaution if the United States
| moves to occupy Iceland. on Blrope's
section of the Arctic Circle, or even
Dakar in French Equatorial Africa. We
| should not, however, be surprised II ia
| pan should also decide TO ignore lines in
| what Toxic conceives to be reasonable
self-defense.
The Ultimate Result.
| As now interpreted, the doctrine Of
| "the inalienable right. Of sef-defense"
| can produce only one ultimate result,
| and toward that the world seems to be
| moving rapidly.
In a period of economic political and
social stress. the great powers will tend
| to exercise this right increasingly, and
| always in the last analysis TO the detri-
! ment of the weak nations which lack
the strength TO establish their theoreti-
cally equal right of self-defense. This
| process. if continued long enough, will
| mean the permanent subiection of all
| small states They may preserve
nominal and cultural independence, but
politically they will become satellites of
| the great powers.
The world however, is no longer big
| enough for all of the great powers, let
alone the little nations There will,
| therefore be a curtain tentative coales-
| cling among the powerful countries, with
each seeking TO belong TO the dominant
| combination. For some time these al
| liances will be experimental and per-
haps superficially absurd. as that which
| first linked Communist Russia with the
| Nazis and now joins Moscow with the
democracies. But with the passage Of
time the groupings will tend to follow
a more logical and permanent design.
The common cause which Firms and
Rumanians are making with Germany
against Russia, the secret arrangements
made by London and Washington for
joint military. occupation of Iceland, are
indications that new alignments are
beginning to crystalline.
At the moment they promise only
further fighting and the extension of the
war. But in these regional alignments,
| when men finally weary of bloodshed
and destruction, craftsmanship may also
| find the foundations of more perma-
| nent peace.