POSSIBILITIES IN THE NEAR EASTERN SITUATION.

Nelson Evening Mail, 16 September 1916, Page 4

POSSIBILITIES IN THE NEAR EASTERN SITUATION.

WHAT would be li'kiely to happen if tht Allies could cut the famous ' Mand 1 ibridge" by which Germany succeeded in Knkin<: Berlin with 'Constanti'ioiple and Jerusalem, and even, tl ougli not by rail., with Bagdad, and Teheran' and Eastern Egypt': What wouldl happen if 'Bulgaria were to drop out, or bo pushed' out of the war: These a.re rjue-stions raised iby an informative writer, -without attempting in am way to prophesy but -simply vonsiderin;. tho possibilities as suclli. In the first place, though ithwenemy's front would be very much shortened, ho would, he says, not ■gain the advantage usually got by s shortening of front; he would not have any more men to main what was left with. For the 'Central Powers have, so far as one can tell, very' few men south of the Danube, in. >Servia, Bulgaria, oi Turkey. The shortening would have been produced! by amputation ibdtlh of force and' of territory, rather t/ian by the withdrawal) of armies; the (memy would lose from, every jpoi'Bt of view, except that the area She \vi»uld then have to de-

<"■ fig 1o« " i-\ '•"&"/?»' ti, ' fti r.~ 3 ■ , -. -o .•, ideprived of the power which his communication with the 'Near East has given him hitherto, of 'holding a considerable British force for long periods out of action, simply 'because he could always threaten Egypt. But that is only a part of what miust najppe.u. There is nothing more certain than that without German organisation and German munitions Turkey would not be able to hold out against 'Russia and Britain long, even if she wanted' 'to. And it is extremelydoubtful whether she would want to, even taking into account the great curtailment of territory which she would Ihavo to expect in any terms likely to be granted her. ißait in spite of the obvious military gain that would result to the Allies from the changes supposed, perhaps the greatest blow to the enemy would ibe not military but moral, in the inevitable and universal dissillusionment that must follow.