FUTURE OF THE BALKANS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9539, 10 July 1909, Page 4

FUTURE OF THE BALKANS.

A great many people thought the long-cherished dream of a confederacy of Balkan States ended abruptly last spring when Russia advised Servia to accept the demands Austria wished to impose upon her but appax*ently the leaders of the movement are not of the same opinion. M. Ivanovitch, in an article in the "Fortnightly Review," says he still looks to a strong confederacy, with Turkey in Europe, included, as the only possible solution of the Near Eastern

question. Ever since the time of Peter the Great he reminds us, and,

above all, ever since Austria and Russia entered into rivalry over the inheritance of the Ottoman Empire, politicians and publicists have been racking their brains and making ingenious attempts to find a solution of the problem which would prove acceptable to Europe, and also have in it the element of stability. He is not discouraged by recent events, but ptill thinks a State will come into being which, with an immense extent of territory and a frontier, to three seas, might be both prosperous and powerful. "The Balkan Confederation," he writes, "will be realised, and it will be realised because it is an absolute necessity and indispensable to all Europe. In order to live in pflace and to go forward in the march of progress, Europe and the whole world require a balance of power, a power which can only be found in the union of the Balkan States. Since England, France, Italy and Russia cannot, jointly or severally, allow Germany the hegemony of the Balkans and the Mediterranean, they must build a rampart against her. The Balkan States only ask for help in withstanding this pressure, and the first step must be to prevent the House of Hapsburg from strangling the Serbs."