The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1945-10-25
Middle East Trouble Center
These Days5My f gEo In =. yozohsRi

can to the Indian Ocean and the
Yellow Sea. And Russia moved
down through Iran TO complicate
an unsolvable human problem.
Again. one thinks OF Palestine
merely as a Moslem-Jewish prob
lem. forgetting altogether the Chris
tians who live in dread of the sword
OF Saladin which threatens them in
Palestine. Lebanon. Syria, and Ar
menia, small but ancient countries.
betrayed constantly by Europe and
prosecuted constantly by Islam.
II is because this problem Is so
serious in the bellicose history OF
Europe, and further because the
United States has become so deep
ly immersed in the oil OF Ibn Saud
and the politics OF Romania, Bull
garia and Yugoslavia, that II would
be wise for Americans TO inform
themselves more accurately con-
corning the trends and events in
those lands.
Leon Dennen, an editor OF the
New Leader. has written a concise.
Informative and significant book on
this unhappy area. In march, 1914,
he was sent to Istanbul on a res
cue mission for an American relief
agency. In his own words:
MY assignment was to help men
and women OF the anti.Nazi under
ground and resistance movements
whose lives were in danger be-
cause of their active opposition TO
Hitler. These included Gentiles
and Jews. Labor people and jour
nalists. scholars and artists. ]
was asked to undertake this mis-
sion because OF my knowledge OF
European languages. familiarity
with the countries of eastern and
southeastern Europe where / had
lived as a child and in later years
as a newspaperman. and also be-
cause for many months prior to my
departure had been intimately as
ISOLATED with exiled leaders OF Eu-
ropean labor and through them
with a number OF anti-Nazi under
ground organizations"
Men like Mr.. Dennen usually are
struck sharp blows by the disilius-
ioning weapons of power politics.
/ have read his articles for years
and although an anti-Communist,
he apparently believed that the pol.
iticians who control our lives are
sincere men who really believe In
decent democracy. l suspect from
this book that he has discovered
how little reliance can be placed
in THE Big Three or The Big
Five" or the propagandistic liars
who have sloganized the world with
narcotizing falsehoods. And so his
book. Trouble Zone" published
by ziff-Davis. is already being
smeared as "anti-Russian." and !
suppose that this man who has de-
voted his life to Socialism will be
called a Fascist" by the yappers
on the radio who follow every
twist and turn Of the Daily Work.
er. Yet, even after his recent ex-
perience with oppression and pow
er politics, he states his view:
"A policy Of frarfkness and forth
rightness on our part toward our
Soviet ally is instantly branded an.
ti-Russian' by the Communist and
pro-Soviet press. II is nothing OF
the sort. America cannot afford
to be anti-Russian. But neither
can America afford to be anti
democracy. That we will fairly,
constructively. and positively sup
port democratic forces is what an
overwhelming majority of the peo-
pie throughout Europe hope for
desperately The realization OF
that hope would be a long-term
insurance not only for the democ-
racies but for Russia.
1T Is difficult TO write dispas-
sionately OF the suffering OF the
small countries in whose midst ]
lived......"
This is a worthwhile book to read.