AMERICAN-DANISH TALKS

Chronicle (Levin), 7 March 1949, Page 5

AMERICAN-DANISH TALKS

(N.Z.P.A.

— Reuter,

U.S. Request For Bases May Be Stumbling Block

, Copyrlffht)

Received Monday, 9.35 a.m. LONDON, March 6, A request by the United States for miiitary bases on Greenland will be the main stumbling hlOQk when the Danish Foreign Minister, Mr. Rasrnussen, cUjSrussp.s the possibility of Denmark s participation in the Atl&ntic Union in Washington this week, says Reuter's Copenhagen correspondent. The Danish Ambassador in Washington is beiieved to have reported that the United" States will seek the right to hire miiitary bases on Greenland, main.y for radar installations, for 20 or 30 years. Mr. Rasmussen and the Danish Government are expected to fight hard before making this concession. Danish public opinion is extremely sensitive to the presence of United States offieials now stationed on her Greenland "colony." Increased Russian Pressure With the Danish-American talks impending, and Norway preparing for full participation in the At.antic Pact, some Scandinavian newspapers have warned that Russia would intensify her war of nerves against the Nordic countries. This is expected to confirm Sweden in her neutrality and' strengthen the smali, stubborn anti-Atlantic Pact groups in Norway and Denmark. It is also expected to cause apprehension in • Finland, where Prime Minister Fagerholm is busy preparing to replace his old Sociai Democratic Cabinet — attacked by the Russian Press during the past few weeks— by a Cpalition, including the Communists. Sweden is expected to resist any Russian pressure as tenaciously as she opposed the proposal to link the stillborn Scandinavian Union with the Atlantic Pact. .