Evening star., 1945-05-20
lnter-AIIied Troubles

IHCSI-AllieQ IOuDIeS
The outlook for Allied political re-
lations, as this week begins, is one
of unrelieved Encouragement.
Fourteen days ago the GERMANY
surrendered Internationally. That
ended the menace of Naziism-the
gravest threat to our civilization
that the modern world has known.
And yet, in the brief span of one
fortnight, Field Marshal Sir Harold
Alexander, Allied commander in the
Mediterranean theater, feels i'm
pelled-apparently with ample rea-
son-to accuse our Yugoslavian ally
of employing tactics "all too reni-
niscent of Hitler, Mussolini and
Japan"
One would like to believe that the
Yugoslavs, under Marshal Tito, are
acting independently in pursuing
their irresponsible course. But this
is hardly conceivable. Opinions as
to Tito's status differ. Some contend
that he is an old Communist who
is merely implementing Soviet pol
icies in Yugoslavia. Others believe
that he and the regime he heads,
while subservient to Moscow, are not
outright puppets. But, whatever the
exact status of Tito, it is most un-
likely that he would have forced the
Trieste issue to its present critical
phase unless he was confident that
what he was doing had the approval
of Marshal Stain. To express it
another way, Tito, in violation of
his agreements, is precipitating a
showdown which involves the dan
ger of an armed clash with British
and perhaps our own troops. And
there is no good reason to doubt
that, in going to this extreme, he
enjoys the support of Marshal Stain.
The latter, on his. own account,
has simultaneously brought the
Polish dispute to point where hope
of satisfactory settlement becomes
extremely remote. After weeks in
which he ignored repeated requests
from the American and British gov
ernments for information, Marshal
Stain makes public his position in
letter to a newspaper correspondent.
He says that the recent arrest of
sixteen Polish underground figures,
which had caused the Anglo-Ameri-
can governments to suspend nego-
tiations on the Polish issue, has no
connection with the question of re-
construction of the Polish pro-
visional government" Then he goes
on to express his belief that the
Polish question can be solved "only"
if certain conditions are observed.
Outstanding among these is the de-
mand that the present Polish gov
ernment, the Moscow-controlled
Warsaw regime, be recognized as the
"basic core" of any future Polish
government. This is vague language,
but it seems to be thoroughly incon-
sistent with the Crimea agreement
to set up broadened, more demo-
cratic government in Poland.
That agreement, from which Mar
shal Stain now says there can be
no deviation, also contains this
language:
Our meeting here in the Crimea
has reaf6rmed our common deter
mination to maintain and strengthen
in the peace to come that unity of
purpose and of action which has
made victory possible and certain for
the United Nations in this war. We
believe that this is sacred obliga-
ton which our governments owe to
our peoples and to all the peoples of
the world.
In the four months which have
intervened that high resolve has
come to little. Unity of purpose and
action, instead of being strength
ened, has been greatly impaired.
And there has been not the slightest
evidence of any progress by the
three governments toward the full
fillment of what they have recog-
nized as being their sacred obliga-
ton" to the peoples of the world. In
this deteriorating situation, it seems
entirely reasonable to urge again
that this Government make the
facts pertaining to our relations
with Russia available to our own
people. Certainly, there is little to
be gained from keeping them in
ignorance of the true state of affairs.
DR.. Samuel Johnson, the diction-