Evening star., 1948-11-28

,aled and that the limited quantity
lis country belatedly is rushing to
forces will be easily overrun and
possibly destroyed.
The same thing applies to Hok,
kaido Island, which Is only a short
distance from the Kuriles, which
were given to the u. S. S. r. by the
United States as token of friend
ship and compensation for the Red
Army's cooperation in the war
against Japan.
In spite of the heavy iron curtain
which prevents outsiders from see
ing these recently acquired Soviet
possessions, there is sufficient in
formation available to our intelli.
gence services in JAPAN to make
Gen. Macarthur realize that he will
have more trouble than he ever
bargained for whenever Moscow de-
cides to help the japanese people
shake off the yoke of American
capitalist-imperialists."
Developments No Surprise
A high-ranking American official,
recently returned from Japan, sums
up the situation there in the follow
ing words: I'VE are all sitting on .
powder keg which may explode any
time that those fellows in the
Kremlin decide to pull the switch"
With a force Of about 100000 men
we are supposed to control some
IS, 100000 Japanese who can be-
come fanatical against us almost
overnight. While most Of the popu-
lation is friendly in the chief cities,
principally because it is in. the city
areas that American forces are con-
in the rest of the country
the japanese bow and hiss politely
to mash what is easily detected as
a surly attitude.
So long as the Japanese Com
engage only in war Of
theological politics and speech
making there will be no real danger
of an uprising. But as soon as the
Soviet decides that the time has ar
rived and purely theoretical propa-
ganda must give way to action, we
shall find ourselves in q sad pre-
dicament.
Present developments have not
been Unforeseen. While we have
followed a hit-and-miss policy in
regard to Europe, our policy Of
keeping Manchuria and China out.
side, of any foreign sphere of in
fluence," be It Japanese or Russian,
has been strictly adhered to, par.
ticularly since 1941, when our con-
f1ict with. Japan started.
Objections Rejected
We realized then that the security
of the United States would be jeop.
ardized If Manchuria and the China
coast were In the possession of any
other power which might have ag-
gressive intentions against this
country. At that time Japan had
given clear indication that 1t har-
bored hostile intentions toward
America. Today the U. S. S. r. is
showing the same tendency, but
with more emphasis and virulence.
1t is this strategic dogma which
caused a number of President
Roosevelt's advisers to object
mildly, it is true-to the Yalta
agreement, which gave Russia zones
of economic influence in Manchu-
ria. 1t was pointed out then to
those who we're formulating our
policies that as soon as an expan-
sionisC power like the U. S. S. r. OBJ
tanned a foothold in Manchuria, 1t
would not be long before the whole
territory was gobbled up.
The objections of these men were
rejected because Mr.. Roosevelt's po-
litical henchmen pointed out to him
that the military always thinks in
terms of war and defense and failed
to realize that we intended to build
a new world after the defeat Of the
Axis.
Unfortunately, this new world has
given signs of being worse than the
old one and the worst fears Of our
"militarists" are on the way to be-
coming realities.
No Buffer State Now
After the Soviet leaders began to
show their hand we made plans to
convert Japan into buffer state
for the protection of the West Coast
of the United States. This sounded
plausible at one time. But with the
conquest of Manchuria by the Mos
cow-sponsored Chinese "agrarians"
and with the inevitable demise Of
the government of Generalissimo
Chang Kai-shek, the position OF
Japan now has become as precari.
GUS as that of the Reich.
Hatred is more easily famed than
love, and it is on this that the So
viets will rely when the day comes
to start their moves to get us out
of Japan, in the same way that they
are planning to get US out OF
Europe. No wonder that we see SO
many dejectedt faces among those
whose responsibility it is to prepare
our defenses against the uncertain
future.
We hear these men say: 1--WE now
have lost World War II In Asia just
as we lost it in Europe after Pots
dam" And they add: I'VE suf.
fered nearly 100000 casualties and
burdened our taxpayers with some
$500, 600 ,O00. 900 of debt as the result
of war which left us In a more
difficult position than any we ever
occupied in our history"