Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1939. EXPANDING WAR ISSUES.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 September 1939, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1939. EXPANDING WAR ISSUES.

WHILE the Russian invasion of Poland plainly has opened the way to far-reaching changes in the war situation and outlook in Europe, it" is perhaps more important at the moment that the course these changes are destined to pursue amt therefore, to some extent, the issues raised as between the Allies and the other nations concerned, are still far from being clearly defined. The British Government has made its position broadly clear in affirming that the attack made on Poland at the moment when she was prostrated could not be justified by the arguments put forward by the Soviet Government and in the further declaration: — His Majesty’s Government states that nothing that has occurred can make any difference to the aim of his Majesty Government, with the full support of the country to> fulfil its obligations to Poland, and to prosecute the war with all eneigy till its object has been achieved. This is an honest declaration of principle and purpose which the whole Empire may be expected to endorse and support the conditions in which the British and Allied aim is now tq be pursued, however, are far from having been determined. One great and momentous question awaiting elucidation is whether Russia is now to be regarded primarily as having set neise . athwart Germany’s drive to the east, or as having combined with the Reich in an alliance of aggression. In the latest British declaration, Russia plainly is indicted as an aggressor, and at best a very serious additional problem is thus raised which will not be brought easily to solution. A great deal must depend, however, on the lengths to which Russia is prepared to go in the partnership of aggression. It is not yet established that the Soviet means to co-operate with Germany in it policy of. unlimited territorial seizure and readjustment in Eastern Europe. On this point, the London “Daily Telegraph” observed, in an article quoted in one ot yesterday’s cablegrams, that Russia’s policy is as imponderable as ever and added, somewhat optimistically:— Whatever the future may hold, 1 two things are certain: the presence of the powerful Russian army on his eastern frontier will immobilise a large part of Herr Hitler’s forces at a time w *J® n they arc needed in the west, and Poland, brutally stricken to the ‘ earth, will rise again. Willi affairs Ilnis ordered, the Allies would he reasonably well placed to pursue the aims declared by Britain in her protest, against, the Soviet invasion of -Poland, though the ultimate honouring of the Allied obligations to Poland evidently will not be made easier by Ihe Russian occupation of Poland’s eastern territories. At an opposite extreme from the rather hopeful view just cited, the Rome correspondent of the “New York Times reports speculations in Italy regarding a possible Russo-German invasion of Rumania and drive into the Balkans. r l he Italians feel, according to the correspondent, that the Russian move represents another bitter blow to the Allies and do not see how they are going to wage war against the Soviet. They see virtually the whole European Continent, except France, at war with the Allies or helplessly neutral, and believe that the Allies are now going to face the gigantic if not hopeless task of blockading the whole Continent. Following provisionally this line of speculation, it may be agreed that if Russia and Germany combined in an active partnership of aggression, the Allies would be laced by gigantic tasks and problems in Europe, and not there only. If events went so far, account no doubt would have to be taken of Russian action, possibly with the co-operation of Japan, in the Far East and elsewhere in the Pacific. Againt. the alarmist views expressed in Italy and also against some hopeful anticipations expressed in Germany, there are to be set meantime the assurances of the Soviet Government that its policy is still one ot neutrality. The worth of these assurances admittedly has yet to be tested. At the moment, there are no means of determining with even, an approach to accuracy the true magnitude of the problem by which the Allies are confronted. Ascertained facts must replace the wide-ranging speculation now current before clear ideas can .lie formed on flic subject. In particular, the intentions of the Soviet Government must be disclosed, in statement or in action, before the outlook ca.n be regarded as being at all clearly defined.