Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-08-20
Tito's True CoIors


States should be received in this
country with an awareness that our
own policies are responsible in no
small measure for Marshal Tito's
belligerent attitude.
Actually this is more than a war
of nerves. One American transport
plane, which had strayed from It's
course in storm, was shot down
ten days ago by Yugoslav fighters,
and it is reported that machine gun
bursts were fired into the plane
after 1t had crash landed. The
members of the crew were held
incommunicado for week and have
not yet been released. A second
American transport plane was at
tackled Monday and is believed to
have been shot down in the Julian
Alps. At least the plane is missing
and the last radio message from the
pilot was that he was under attack.
1t is understatement to call this
sort of thing a war of nerves. For
while Tito has the technical JUS
LITIGATION that the planes we're off
course and over Yugoslav territory,
the fact is that these attacks on
American aircraft are but part of
studied Yugoslav campaign of
hostility which is but little short
of undeclared warfare.
Nor is there any reason to sup
pose that Tito is acting indepen-
IDENTIFY and on his own account.
What he has been doing in Yugo-
slavia and in the Trieste area is not
greatly different from what the
Russians have done in Austria and
IN the Far East, and since he was
hand-picked for his present post
by the Kremlin it is fair inference
that his current belligerency has at
least the tacit approval of the Rus
slams.
Basically we are paying a penalty
now for having permitted our mill
tary organization to fall apart at
the wars end. For years before
Pearl Harbor we suffered one indig-
nifty after another at the hands of
the japanese because we were
militarily weak and they knew it.
In terms of actual military strength
we are not a great deal better off
today than we were in the late thir-
ties. This is well known, of course,
to Tito and his Soviet hackers, and
they are using the same tactics
against us that the japanese used.
Their objective is to prevent us from
discharging the responsibilities we
have assumed in Europe, and in this
they may be successful, for our rep
resentatives there are, gravely weak
ened by our refusal to supply them
with adequate military strength.
Another factor initiating against
us Is our wavering diplomatic record
IN dealing with Tito. Keeping step
with the British and as a gesture
of appeasement to Russia, we aban-
doned King Peter in favor of Tito's
rival regime. This was conditioned
on the admission of opposition ele-
ments to the Yugoslav government,
who were soon squeezed out, and
the holding of "elections,". which
were a farce. In December, 1s45, we
granted a sort of qualified recogni-
ton of the Tito government, stat
ing, however, that recognition did
not imply approval of the govern
ment'S policies, the way it came to
power or Its failure to carry out
promises of personal freedom to its
people" In April we extended
full" recognition to Tito's govern
ment-at the very time that the
State Departments note of May 20
was in process of preparation. This
note, just made public, sharply re-
buked Tito for seeking to under
mine our position in Europe and
specifically accused him of making
a wholly unfounded charge"
against us. In the light of this
record it is hardly surprising that
Tito should be Indifferent to notes
of protest from the State Depart
ment and confident of his ability
to trample on our toes with i'm
punity.
Certainly, unless strong measures
are taken now, we can look forward
to continuation of the incidents"
of the past few days. One such
measure might be to supply our
transports with fighter escorts and
serve notice on our "allies" that
the American fighters will meet
force with force. That may not be
enough, but it is the least that we
can do if our unarmed transports
are going to continue to fly in areas
where they are exposed to attack.