DRAMATIC COUP

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 April 1939, Page 5

DRAMATIC COUP

SATISFYING ITALIAN PRIDE LONDON PRESS COMMENT. MUSSOLINI UNDERMINES GOOD REPUTE. LONDON, April 10. Commenting in a leader today on Italy’s occupation of Albania, , “The Times” says that the Cabinet is not wasting its time, on the Italian pretext that oppressed Albanians invited the invasion. . „ “The recent exploits of the axis, says the piper, “haver exalted the junior partner much more' than the patentee. The totalitarian idea was that it was time to gratify Italian pride and that Albania was small enough to of-

fer the chance of a dramatic coup with little risk. “Yet the Duce has disastrously undermined his good repute in quarters to which he is not indifferent. The Pope’s allocution is not . obscure. “The revulsion of Moslem opinion at the seizure of a Moslem dominion cannot be a light matter to the ‘Protector of Islam.’ Nor is it profitable to provoke Mr Cordell Hull’s denunciation. • “The British Cabinet may assume that Good Friday’s offensive is a step toward a more substantial objective to which both dictators are parties. Albania is the bridgehead to the Balkans, enabling pressure to be put upon Yugoslavia and Greece in order to prevent concerted measures for security. Such a manoeuvre, if .successful, would not be the last. Rumania and Turkey lie beyond. “Britain must speedily and decisively pursue her momentous departure in foreign policy, the furtherance of which Ministers must consider. The threat to Yugoslavia now comes from two sides. The first objective of British diplomacy must be the achievement of a common understanding on resistance to domination.” KING & QUEEN. HALT IN MACEDONIA. LONDON, April 9. The Athens correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says that King Zog, Queen Geraldine, their infant son and King Zog’s sisters passed through Salonika without stopping. They went by car to Volo, where they are staying at an hotel temporarily. VISITS TO BERLIN. ' A BULGARIAN DEPUTATION. LONDON, April 10. M. Gafencu will visit Berlin from April 18 to April 19. A Bulgarian deputation. including members of the Cabinet,'•will join in the celebration of HenHitler’s birthday there on April 18. The visits may determine Bulgaria’s future, but it is officially stated .in Sofia that Bulgaria is co-operating with the other Balkan nations in their efforts to preserve peace and maintain the policy of the Balkans for the Balkan people.