Evening star., 1946-10-20
Peace Farley Discloses
Solidarity of Slav Bloc
Unity of Interest and Action Emphasizes Division
of World Between Western Democracies
and Countries Behind Iron Curtain
Bv Constantine Br0svn

time BrO1Dn
Bulgarian frontiers reach the Big -Four
Foreign Ministers for final approval. Mr..
Molotov added significantly that ''our
Bulgarian friends can rest assured that
their frontier with Greece (which had
been altered by Hitler at the time when
Bulgaria was a German satellite and
Greece was on the side of the Allies)
will remain unchanged"
Political and military observers in
Washington regard this open break
among the wartime Allies as a definite
threat to the peace of the world. But
for the time being it cannot be brought
to the attention of the Security Council
! because there is no provision to con-
| slider political alignments as such.
The Slav bloc, which emerged as
strong and unified organization a few
months after VI day, is the result Of
long and careful planning on the
part of Moscow.
It's foundations go Back as far as the
! Teheran Conference when President
Roosevelt gave unqualified support to
Prime Minister Stain against the stra-
tegic plan of the British to attack Hitler
from the "underbelly of Europe"-the
Balkans-after American and British
forces had obtained a strong foothold
in Italy and were dominating the
Adriatic Sea.
The first actual indication that Russia
intended to make the countries east OF
the Elbe River into Russian puppets
came, however, during the war in 1914
when the Russian forces advancing to-
ward the Vistula made an unexplained
halt on the east bank of that river and
detailed &axee contingents for operations
against Romania and eventually Bull
garia.
Because of the necessity of casting no
doubt on the harmony of the big powers.
little was then said officially about this
unexpected suspension of the Soviet
offensive in Poland although it occurred
at a time when we and the British were
heavily engaged in fighting the Germans
in France.
Most military observers will admit
today that had the Russians pressed the
Germans hard and synchronized their
operations with ours in the west, the
Nazis would have collapsed months
earlier But the Russians were inter-
ested principally in stalking their claims
on their immediate political objecnves-
the Balkans. Hence, the campaign in
Romania. At the same time the Rus
slams protested violently against the
surrender negotiations of the Romanian
and Bulgarian governments which had
sent representatives to Cairo to discuss
their surrender to us. The Soviet de-
manded a free hand in these countries.
Declare War Quickly.
The State Department and the Lon
don Foreign Office insisted that the
Bulgarians, who were not at war with
the U. S. S. R. and had maintained
diplomatic relations with Moscow since
1941, could not surrender to friendly"
nation. Moscow remedied the situation
in "a hours by declaring war on Bull
garia and ordering its troops across the
Danube The armistice with the two
Balkan countries was signed by Russia
in the name of the Allies, but the Rus
slams and the quickly formed puppet
governments treated our representatives
in those countries more like enemies
than Allies and conquerors.
Since last September the Russians
have worked hard and ruthlessly to
make the entire group of nations east
of the Elbe into Slav bloc. In Poland,
Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia
and Czechoslovakia today there are gov
ernments handpicked and backed by
the Russian government.
At the Paris Peace Conference" the
Russian government did not hesitate
to support the desires of those satellites
with the full strength of its political and
military power. Although, according to
reports from American and British
sources, the Soviet representative at the
Council of Foreign Ministers had agreed
that Trieste would become a free ter
ritory under the jurisdiction OF the
U. N. Mr.. Molotov is said now to have
changed his tune and intends to reject
the proposal adopted by the overwhelm-
ing majority of the conferees providing,
by and large, for a satisfactory solution.
Slav Bloc Well Organized.
The Slav bloc is well organized and
answers to the slightest sign from Mos
COW. The voting is in accordance with
Moscow's desires and except on minor
matters the bloc follows the Moscow
directives.
The non-Slavs can hardly be described
as a group. They have voted together
on matters concerning freedom and
Justice, but it cannot be said that they
have been Influenced or dictated to by
the United States, Great Britain or
France. In some instances, small coun-
tries like Australia and New Zealand
have taken up matters which Secre-
taries Byrnes and Bevin would have
preferred be passed in silence.
Australias courageous representative.
H. v. Evatt, was described more than
once by the members of the American
and British delegations as pain in the
neck. It is true that the smaller states
outside the iron curtain" are looking
anxiously to the United States for an
indication that she will support them
should the Russian ak fall on them.
But there is no such thing as q
western bloc" The essential considera-
ton in the formation of such political
organizations is the absolute dictatorial
power of the leading nation.
In the Slav bloc if any of the heads
of government were to attempt to bolt
the Zine" he would disappear overnight.
either because of severe attack OF