EUROPE ON EDGE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 502, 8 April 1933, Page 2

EUROPE ON EDGE

NATIONAL AIMS iFRESH DiWELOPMENTS PLACE PEACE AT STAKE. v "BLOCS" AND ALLIANCES. The nerves on Europe are bn edge. Nearly every day there are fresh developments in some part of the Coritinent which create pessimism with regard to the future peace. If this pessimism is justified, the whole Europe order, based on Versailles, has begun to crumble. Quo vadis, Europa?— Whither goest thou, Europe? Since 1923 Germany's Nazis have moved from strength to strength, until they became the most powerful party, mainly through Hitler'iS. forceful leadership and violent, perfervid oratory. His Brown Army appeafed to German youth, and Monarchists look to, him to found a new Hohenzollern regime. To-day Germany is ruled by a Fascist dietator, ia,nd the foundations of the [Riepublie are tottering. . ? She is* preparing for the days when, as she hopeis, it may again be possible to develop her military forces without the restrictions at present imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. i The most powerful army to-da.y in Europe is that of Flance. In eonsidering the rjsks of war, it is well to bear in mind that France is undoubtedly - better prepared than any other nation which cou]d possibly attack her. It is known that she, ever since the Armistice, has elamoured for security. We have seen how the demand for this -security has dominated the whole of French diplomacy. No first-class nation has hitherto sought guarantees for its existence, and certainly no firstclass nation, in the moment of complete victory, hiais expressed so frequently and so loudly its fear of an attack. Unfortunately, nearly all the attempts to obtain absolute security defeat their own purpose, complicate the situation, tand make the chances of a new uph'eaval much greater. France was perfectly safe after the war, and would certainly have continued to he perfectly safe, had she not, in her desire for security, entered into all kinds of unnecessary engagements and woven a network of 'accords" in Eui'ope. Officially, Rumania, Yugoslavia, and even Bulgaria, were, and still are, proFrench; the two former because France poses as the sole champion of the treaties to which they owe- so much, the last because French propaganda is very active in Bulgaria, land has so far outdone in puhlicity and push' the more isubtle but less energetic methods of the Italians. Everywhere can be seen the taint of armaments; laxge credits are obtainable for munitions, but for little else; productive industry is at a discount. Rumania, Yugoslavia, and Poland were being equipped on credit with French war material. Although there is much talk of progress, every consideration is suhordinated to tlm encirclement of Germany and (to a lesser degree) Hungary within a ring of steel. Their recovery must be prevented at any cost, and their expansion checked. Force is paramount everywhere, and the prime cause of widespread discontent. , The Mediterranean. The tension hetween Italy land France has grown since Fascism came into power. France is cairn on the surfaee, but she is really intensely irritated by the feverish increase of Italian land land sea armaments, by Italy'is fast-growing strength and political power, and her aspirations in the Mediterranean and Adriatic.

So long, however, las France's supremacy in the Mediterranean is safe, there is less danger of a rupture from her. But there is no such security on the other side. It is hard to say with any certainty what Signor Mussolini's real policy will be in the future. Fascism has never taibandoned its ambitions in Dalmatia or Albania, the latter of which is practically an Italian outpost. Emigration has been lalmost stopped by the Government in order to swell the man-power of this virile nation. The consequent pressure of population calls for a vent in new colonies, almost necessarily at the expense of France. Since the victorious advent of Fascism in Germany, Italy feels herself drawn towards this second stronghold of the new political creed.

Hungary and Yugoslavia Hungary will not act alone. Europe is.- drifting rapidly towards a new "bialance of power." Throughout Hungary the discontent is widespread and profound. It js the discontent of a proud and dominant race. Hungary's army is small but efficient. ,We still remember all about the smuggling of arms and 'planes into Hungarian territory. Poland and the 'Corridor." In international discussions of Germany's eastern frontiers, the following view is almost always preponderant. It is recognised thiat the Corridor, as well as the partition of Upper Silesia, stand in thie way of (EasternEurOpean relaxation. To everybody who knows Germany it will be clear that she hias no wish to put up with the present state of affairs. Even her fbnner opponents have publicly recog'nised her difficulties in the Near East.

MacDonald and Mussolmi. When MacDonald and Mussolini, with their absolutely divergent politioal ideas, met recently at Rome, a big step forward was undoubtedly done towards international understanding. They diseussed nearly all the sore points of the present European situation, such as the salvaging of the disarmament conference, the Polish Corridor, the danger .-of an ItaloYugoslavian conflict, French and Italian relations, German Nazi regime, and the neutral zone in the Rhineland. For, the time being Firance and the Little Entente form one bloc, whilist Germany Italy, and Hungary represent the opponents of French policy. Britaiil and Bussia are standing in the background, land America is watching from afar. Some dread a new coilflagration; they are France and her

hope for something from it; they are the vanquished. But ia.ll perceive the j logical outcome of France's European i policy — a new balance of power. In an exceptionally frank article in The Observer, Mr. J. L. Garvin declares that there is hope, hut -not facile hope, in the European situation. In his opinion, disarmament alone canT not guarantee peace, an unavoidable condition of which is reasonable revision of the Versailles Treaty land ancillary decrees. "What's the use of reducing armaments, without reducing the cause of armaments?" he aslcs. 'Versailles hia.s been Europe's cancer since 1919. Mechanical without moral disarmament is a futile fantasy. Will all face the- truth at last, or mumble, fumble towards the finial catastrophe ? " Or, as a well-known and soherminded Hungarian statesman said only recently: "You can demobilise armies, but not hearts."