The Wilmington morning star., 1945-01-25
TODAY and TOMORROW
BY WALTER LIPPMANN

The meeting of the Allied lead
e1s will be a council of war and
it will also be conference to fix
what are known in international
law as the "preliminaries of
peace" The success of the meet
ing will depend in no small, de-
gree upon whether the President,
who has neglected the task of de-
veioping an instructed American
opinion, is able to concentrate on
the great and essential detectives
of the meeting.
This will not be possible if the
first things that must come first
become generally forgotten here at
home. and the second things, which
can be achieved only after e
first, are made the criteria of his
success. When, for example, Mr.
Mark Sullivan writes that with
the military phase practically set
tied, the theological one becomes
paramount, he is, l venture to
thing. confusing first things and
second things and jeopardizing
both the military and the ideologi-
cal settlement.
This meeting is council of war
because in fact the military phase
is. by no means practically settled
it is not settled at all in the Pa
cific. 1t is far from settled in Eur
cpe.
No one has reason to assume,
as Mr.. Sullivans remarks imply
that the Soviet advance is the con
Guiding military campaign of the
European war. 1t might conceiv
ably be, but in elementary pru
dence we must assume that the
Red Army now, like the western
armies in France last summer
will have to pause somewhere ane
that the Germans will then gain
time to organize their defenses. II
that event, Europe will be a the
alter of war for considerable time
to come, and the liberated coun
tries of the west, the east and O.
the south, will be the bases il
which the final assault upon Ger
many has to be mounted.
AL the 'ideologicaP' problems o.
these countries will be worked ou
in situation where, the necessi
ties and the limitations of war will
control provisional governments
relief, rehabilitation, the purge 0.
Quislings and fifth columnists. The
paramount factor in the affairs G.
the liberated countries will be the
effort to mobilize their resources
their facilities, and their man pow
er against Germany; their interna,
problems will reflect the limitation
of our capacity to provide them
with supplies to meet the terrible
reeds of their people. 1t is sheer
illusion to suppose that the ideolo
gy of their eventual form of gov.
eminent can be separated neatly
from the great practical issues
arising from the fact that the lib.
Grated countries are enmeshed in
a war which is not yet concluded.
Moreover, even if the present
campaign is the final campaign Of
the German war, the military
phase will not be practically set.
tled'' until the Allied armies meet
on German soil and have settled
the manner in which they will dis.
arm Germany and keep her de.
militarized. 1t is here that our own
|ideologists can do infinite harm tc
our own theology and to our ma.
tional interests. If they act in the
theory that it is now more impor.
tant to resist the Russian theology
than to make sure that Germany
is demilitarized, they will fail to
90 either.
For the ground on which h e
western countries are in agree
ment with the Soviet Union is the
standardization of Germany. This
is their common objective to
make themselves secure against a
third German war of aggression
and only by achieving this objec-
tive, only in achieving it, can they
make certain that no secondary
conflicts of interest will divide
them.
Once we become diverted from
this objective, and make opposi-
ton to the Soviet theological in
fluence in eastern Europe our
main concern, we are preparing
the rupture of the alliance. In plain
words, if Britain and the United
States begins to erect ideo-
logical barriers instead of concen-
trating on the Standardization Of
Germany, the Soviet Union will re.
act much more quickly and eff
fectiyely than we can or shall. II
the Soviets have any reason Il
think-perhaps from reading arti-