Evening star., 1942-03-15
Rapid Spread of World War II
Threatens to Engulf All Races
Collapsing Empires of White Man in Far East
Shake Hindu, Moslem, Arab Obeisance
to Western Power and Ideas
By Felix Morley.
By Felix NJ orIey.

Rangoon, occupied by the japanese on
March 8, was the seventh center Of white
administrative control in the Far East to
fall into the hands of a conquerins
Asiatic race
Hanoi. the French Indo- China, came
under japanese direction some months
before the assault on Pearl Harbor
Since then, in rapid succession, the capi-
tails of the Philippines, of Sarawak, of
North Borneo, of the Federated Malay
States, of the Netherlands East Indies
and of Burma, have all been uncere-
moniously placed under the flag of the
Rising Sun.
OF these seven distinct colonial areas,
four had previously owed allegiance to
Great Britain, one each to the United
States. the Netherlands and France.
Now, at speed so great that few realize
white empires have disappeared. The
Star Spangled Banner yet waves de-
family on the peninsula of Bataan. The
flags of Portugal and France may still
be displayed on japanese sufferance in
Macao, Timor and Indo- China Other
wise, and almost overnight, symbols of
white power have been swept from the
Far East.
Tables Turned Suddenly.
This major political operation has been
so sudden, so unexpected, that the in
evitable after-effect is not yet apparent
In this country, never colonial minded
and except for rubber not markedly de-
pendent on the conquered lands.
But in the former colonies themselves
the situation must be very different The
native peoples there have watched defeat
after defeat inflicted on the armies of
their former rulers. They have seen
humiliating excavations and watched
thousands of exhausted white soldiers
lay down their arms TO accept indignities
and, repeatedly, worse treatment. The
imposing official buildings of white gov
ernment are still for the most part
standing. But those who occupy the
seats of the mighty are no longer white
men. The 'pukka Sahibs" are now jap
anese.
There has been no change to compare
with this in the lives Of men now living.
1t is not the sort of change which future
events can ever completely cancel out.
So far as further fighting goes, imme-
diate attention is now concentrated on
Australia. But the equally important
psychological repercussions of Japan's
amazing conquests will spread west
rather than south and east. The per-
ennial difficulties of British rule over
India are all too obviously emphasized
by such developments as the assistance
which Burmese revolutionaries are Civ
ing to the japanese. And between India
and the Mediterranean lie other coun-
tries-Iran, Iraq and Syria-where ma
tive leaders who regard themselves as
patriots await the hour to strike.
Races Begin to Stir.
AS the third spring of the war ap-
proaches, one can too easily detect the
tremors spreading westward from the
distant lands Japan has conquered
There is no love for Japan among these
Hindu and Moslem peoples of India and
the Arab countries. But there is also
no love. and in some places there is
active hatred, for the European and that
peculiar malformation of the Christian
religion which, since the time of the
Crusades he has rammed down the
throats Of Eastern peoples with the
sword. To many of these peoples the
victorious Japanese Army seems not
symbol of conquest, but of deliverance.
The benevolent neutrality of Turkey,
the cooperation of Egypt-even these
seemingly certain factors are less as
sured than was the case before Japan
struck with such appalling success
throughout the Far East. In neither
country, nor among the Arabian states,
is there disposition to play Hitler's game.
But Germany, unlike Great Britain, has
never subjected Moslem peoples And
many primitive minds which have no
sympathy for the Nazis are none the less
far from displeased at the mounting diff
fculties of Great Britain.
This is the new factor in world history
which Japan undoubtedly hoped to pro-
mote through the insidious slogan of
Asia for the Asiatics" 1t is becoming
operative as a result of victories so