Evening star., 1946-06-23

spared Asia. Kindeheartedly he says:
Nobody would be surprised If Moscow
insisted on extending her zone of influ-
ence in Iran to the Persian Gulf or in
Manchuria.' All these foolish sayings
OF this talkative American journalist
cannot be enumerated. The Germans
have dealt a marked card and Con-
stantine Brown has accepted it. With
a benign expression on his fat face,
Constantine Brown has presented us
with Bessarabia. = ="
Friendship Is Possible.
The broadcast ended with the solemn
warning that those persons who, out
OF lack of thought or of wise considera-
ton play the dirty game of the Fascists
and use the same marked cards, in the
end will have themselves to blame for
what will happen"
These broadcaSts, of course, had a
repercussion in America. Many an
editor who carried the column won-
dered whether the writer had not gone
out on long limb since all that was
4nown officially in this country was
that everything was all right among
the Allies and that they would be united
after the war as they were united in
the common fight against the Axis. A
discordant note in contradiction with
the official estimates" of the political
military situation was not popular.
Since the end of the war the predic-
tions contained in this reporters story
and those of others have been fully
confirmed by the attitude of the Soviet
government. But We have entered an
other phase of public thinking: why
should America and Russia not be able
to get together?"
The main argument is that the Rus
sian people are decent lot who have
fought valiantly and were bled to death
in the common victory. This is un-
questionably true. If the Russian peo-
pie had the power to express them
selves and their wishes and desires were
orders for their government, as in the
case Of the democratic countries all
over the world, there is not the slightest
doubt that we could look with greater
confidence and less apprehension to the
future of the world. But the rank and
file of the Russian people-a fine lot
on the whole-have no more to say
about the machinery which is running
the Soviet government than the man
in the moon. They are ordered to work
or fight according to the whirns of the
supercrust in the Kremlin.
People Want Peace.
The Germans were wariike and sup
ported Hitler's ambitions for a long
time. Although the various elections
and referenda held in the Reich since
1888 were faxed to a great extent, there
seems to be no doubt that the German
nation Endorsed Hitler and his militar-
ism up to the time many of them began
to see that the war was being lost. The
Russians are warrior but not a war
like nation. They have Just gone
through terrific ordeal-the worst in
their history-and would like to settle
down to their peaceful occupations
They would also like to have some
degree OF freedom which they have not
enjoyed ever since the beginning of
the World War I.
The attitude of the rulers of the Rus
slams, however, is different from that
Of the peoples themselves. Human life
has been cheap in Russia for more than
25 years. The many "purges" and the
sentences of millions to concentration
camps from which few return have
made life the least valuable possession
in the U. S. S. R. The strict control of the
state police and the extensive espionage
organized among its citizenry have
made it impossible even to attempt to
throw off the shackles of the present
totalitarian regime.
There is no question that if the Rus
sian people could exercise their free will
we could get along with them better
than with many of our friends across
the Atlantic. The average Russian has
only vague notion of how extensive
his country is and does not harbor any
imperialistic aims. The Russian land,
rich in all kinds of natural resources,
can support population at least twice
Russias wealth has not yet been tapped.
Russia needs territorial expansion even
less than the United States. Yet her
leaders have swallowed all of Europe to
the Oder River and their appetite does
not seem to have been satisfied.
Average Russian Insular.
From the observations of this re-
porter, who spent three and one-half
years with the Russian armies at the
front during World War I, the average
Russian is "insular.' That is to say,
he is interested only in the area in
which he lives and is less covetous of
his neighbors property than any other
European individual. He does not care
for extended boundaries and if a vote
were taken today-after the defeat of
Germany-he probably would be satis-
fed with the borders Russia had at the
end of World War I. Neither is the
average Russian suspicious. Quite the
contrary. In no country in Europe has
this reporter been received with greater
kindness and genuine hospitality than
in the shacks of the humble peasants
and in the modest homes of the middle
class families in Russia.
But that kind and fine nation seems
predestined to be ruled by an autoc-
racy; first, the Cars and their hangers
on; then, after the revolution, the COM
missars and their minions. Both re-
gimes sustained themselves not bv the