Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-01-09

The hands of the alarm clock which
will ring the Western European invasion
hour have been set. The men are at
their posts and all of them, from the
top generals to the buck privates, are
confident of victory, the price OF which
will depend entirely on whether the
Germans feel that it is useless to fight
or will oppose us to the bitter end.
But regardless of the price, we are
bound to obtain military victory III
Europe when the Allied pincers working
from the west and the east start crush
Ing the NaZis.
How long it will be before the Nazis
are beaten is anybodys guess. 1t may
take only few weeks after we start the
attack from the west and it may take
several months. According to some high
ly placed superoptimists Hitler may be
overthrown even before the invasion
starts and the Germans may sue for
peace earlier than expected.
These, however, are conjectures based
more on wishful thinking than actual
facts. 1t must be said in justice to the
superoptimists that feelers for nego-
tiated peace have been sent out from
certain quarters ip Germany. They
have fallen on unsympathetic ears be-
cause Hitler and his gang still seem to
have the upper hand in the Reich.
But the question now being asked in
many quarters in Washington is: Will
a military victory over the European end
of the Axis secure the peace for which
we already have sacrificed so much?
Political Problems Arise.
The answer given by those who know
Europe's problems intimately is that I'M
less fair political settlement is brought
about, military victory will not solve
anything.
The veil of secrecy covering the vari-
Gus recent conferences of the Big
Three" makes it impossible to learn
to what extent these vital problems have
been discussed by the leaders of the
American, British and Russian govern
ments. We are told that for the sake
of maintaining harmony among the
members of the United Nations we must
erase all suspicion or doubt and not
hamper victory by injecting indiscreet
political matters into the picture.
Military victory appeared inevitable
for the Allies from the day the United
States entered the war with all her
enormous resources. We have postponed
the real battle against the Japs to IA
cilitate the Allied victory in Europe. We
have worked in complete accord with
the Russians and the British, although
at times it appeared to the Moscow
leaders that we were too slow in getting
ready for a western invasion.
But while the military strategy of the
war has been well planned, so far as the
defeat of Hitler is concerned, the same
cannot be said of our political strategy.
All our leaders without exception have
accepted the European problems as they
should be rather than as they actually
are
The chief trouble with Europe is
political A large number of nations
with different political, racial and eco
nomic concepts are compressed into
relatively small area. In the past some
of these nations have existed under the
heel of more powerful neighbors. For
centuries republics like Finland, the
Baltic states, Poland and Czechoslovakia
together with parts of Yugoslavia and
Rumania have been provinces of Russia,
Germany and Austro Hungary. The
United States liberated or created them
in 1919 on the basis of President Will
sons principle of DIFFERENTIATION.
War Cause Easily Overlooked.
Is this war going to obliterate their
short-lived Independence? If it does,
then we must be prepared for a series
of civil wars in Europe. All these states
which were created after the World War
want to preserve their sovereignty and
as much as possible of their territorial
integrity. If they are deprived of the
former, Europe's troubles will continue.
In the heat of the battle against the
Axis the principal cause of war is easily
overlooked. 1t started when the Poles
resisted the Nazis. Britain and France
declared war on German because they
realized Hitler wanted to establish a
Germanic hegemony over Europe.
We became the arsenal of democracy
chiefly to protect ourselves, but we
showed full sympathy for the victims
Of Nazi aggression. We deplored the
Russian attack on Finland and the State
Department officially "deplored" an
neXation of the Baltic states by Russia.
We also showed our full sympathy to-
ward Poland and assured her that we
would see that her full sovereignty was
restored after victory of the democracies
over the totalitarians The Atlantic
Charter was established before we be-
came actively engaged in the war and