The Wilmington morning star., 1947-04-16
TODAY
and


The intervention in the Middle
East is much more likely to sue
coed if the primary purpose,
which is to exert American mill
tary power upon the Soviet power,
is clearly avowed. The military
and diplomatic risks will be no
larger, indeed they r almost
certain to be smaller, if the Adj
ministration makes it clear to
Moscow, to Europe, and to our
own people, that this is a strategic
operation, that it is designed not
only to check the expansion OF
Soviet power but to bring about
its contraction.
We have selected Turkey and
Greece not because they are
specially in need Of relief, not be-
cause they r shining examples
of democracy and the four free
doms, but because they r the
strategic gateway to the Black
Sea and the heart Of the Soviet
Union. In exerting our own power
at the point where the Soviet I'm
ion is most vulnerable, our inten-
ton is to relieve the pressure
around the whole Eurasian Dor
derland, and to relax the grip OF
the Soviet upon the European con-
tinent. BY taking measures to
make sure that we could enter
the Black Sea. we not only make
it sure that the Soviets will not
enter the Mediterranean, but also
that we can negotiate with them
effectively about the withdrawal
of their military power from Eu-
rope.
The military risk Of confronting
Russia with American power di-
rectly is less than the alternative,
which is to do the same thing in
directly and defensively. Granted
that there is a risk Of war, the
risk is greater if the two powers
act through Balkan satellites than
if they face each other without
intermediates.
For then either Russia or Amer.
lea can be committed, and irrep-
arably entangled, by intrigues
and incidents which are carried
out by their satellites. The danger
of war, as General Eisenhower
pointed out the other day, is in
some stupid local incident which
cannot be localized. The danger
that a Tito or a Greek Fascist will
start something that only q war
can finish is much greater than
that Stain and Molotov, con.
fronted directly by Truman and
Marshall, will deliberately choose
war rather than a general settle
ment.
At the Moscow Conference it
has become reasonably clear that
for the time being Russia is COM
PEELED to care most for the eco
nomic assistance she can get out
of Europe.
No doubt she would dominate
Europe if she could, but her i'm.
mediate and most urgent interest
in Europe is PREPARATIONS for her.
self and help in her own recon-
s~truction. She will tighten her grip
on Europe il that will get her
more material returns. There is
reason to think she would relax
her grip If that would yield higher
immediate returns.
The American Intervention in
the Middle East is in itself a pow
erful means Of causing her to re-
lax her grip. 1t is one blade, so
to speak. of the scissors OF liberia
ton from Soviet domination. The
other blade is necessarily a prof.
ect of European economic recon-
struction, which will in large
measure have to be financed out
of our own surplus capital. A way
will have to be found, to put it
in its elemental terms, to ransom
Europe and to revive it.
Distributing doles to Greece,
Turkey, Korea, Iran, and others
on the periphery will not do the
Job. The doles will never be suf-