The Evening Star TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1936. RUSSIA AND GERMANY.

Evening Star, Issue 22444, 15 September 1936, Page 8

The Evening Star TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1936. RUSSIA AND GERMANY.

It is not surprising that neighbouring countries have been perturbed by the mutual provocations of Russia and Germany. Both Powers profess their concern for peace, while they vie in words and gestures of defiance and insult like Maori war parties of the old days whipping up their passions for the assault with the extravagances of the haka. Moscow began it, in, the latest phase, with a parade described as the “ greatest demonstration of hatred against Fascism ever held.” Germany’s answer has been made in the frenzied speeches of the Nuremberg Nazi conference, which, we are told, would have meant war within twenty-four hours in the days before 1914. The defensive object was kept foremost in Herr Hitler’s tirade; Dr Goebbels, as his hysterics have been condensed, was frankly aggressive. But there was a suggestion of something different from defence in Hitler’s statement that ‘‘if Germany possessed the mineral wealth of the Urals and Siberia she would, under the Nazi regime, swim in plenty instead of fighting for her existence.” The remark may have been innocent in its context, hut it was not the first statement of the kind. If Russians did not arm in view’ of such intimations they would be as foolish as some pacifists in New Zealand. That European countries, in succession, will “ succumb to the Bolshevist poison .” is what Herr Hitler professes to fear. But that danger, which does not imply military aggression on the part of Russia, in so far as it exists must be countered by other methods than those of arms. A fanaticism which spreads through the mind can never be opposed effectually by physical means. And this fanaticism, or “ poison,” has spread very little in Europe in twenty years. After general quiescence, compared with the years which immediately# followed the war, it has been active in Spain, but Spain is the ■ most isolated and one of the most ignorant countries of Europe. There is no real evidence that, since those first days, it has ever been a peril to Germany, whose Communists would appear to have been the tamest breed. It is unlikely that Russia’s rulers today desire war with anyone. They have too much to do in securing for Russians one-tenth part of those blessings of life which certain enthusiasts in New Zealand seem to imagine them already to possess. The Russian and German Governments are both dictatorships, and their power to act arbitrarily at any moment, without regard to any dissentient opinions, makes a chief peril of the present situation. Russia will not make war if she can avoid it. The world feels less sure of Nazism. Herr Hitler may want peace, but he wants, besides, a place in the sun for Germany. An answer to simple requests for interpretation which the British Government months ago addressed to him in relation to his “ peace plan ” would be reassuring, where his references to the Ukraine and Urals are disturbing. The ‘ Spectator ’ pointed out in March last: ‘‘Nothing in Herr Hitler’s peace proposals, except his suggestion of Germany’s return to the League of Nations, is inconsistent with the theory that Germany wants peace in the West with a view to freeing her for action in the East. Herr Hitler proposes a non-aggression pact with France which would immobilise France if Germany were at war with Russia. He offers no non-aggression pact to Russia.” The States of the Little Entente—Czechoslovakia, Rumania, and Yugoslavia—are drawing their alliance closer in view of their fears of Germany. A Prague correspondent of the 1 Spectator ’ wrote a few weeks ago: “The route from Germany to Russia is usually thought to lie through the Baltic countries, through Lithuania and Estonia. Once Czechoslovakia had lost her independence it could run profitably through the oil fields of Rumania and the corn fields of the Ukraine.” But a German movement towards the south-east of Europe would waken the fears of Italy, in addition to making an enemy of France, and so is less likely to appeal to Herr Hitler as practical politics. An observer of the Olympic Games, held so few weeks ago, could write : “ Competent foreign residents here say that the German Government and people really do desire peace, in spite of appearances, and one has seen several things in this festival which suggest that Germany wants to impress her Olympic visitors not only with her efficiency—this wish is inescapably obvious—hut also with her desire to be friendly.’ - If only Germany could confine her demonstrations to those of Olympic Games!