ITALY TROUBLED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 September 1939, Page 5

ITALY TROUBLED

SPREAD OF RUSSIAN INFLUENCE FATE OF THE BALKANS INVOLVED. SOVIET MAY WANT LION'S SHARE. Bv Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright, NEW YORK, September 27. Italy is anxiously watching the Ribbentrop-Molotov conversations, since the immediate fate of the ' Balkans is involved, estates the Rome correspondent of the “New York Times.” Already Russia, much to Italy s dismay and alarm, has become a powerful influence in the Balkans. There are even rumours in Rome that in Moscow there are negotiations for a pact to guarantee the neutrality of the Balkans and the whole of the Eastern Mediterranean. That is a consummation Italy aevoutely wishes, but it is doubted whether Russia would agree. It is hard to imagine the Soviet working hand-in-glove with Germany and then turning around to make another agreement aimed at barring German intervention in the Balkans. The conviction is growing that any effort to separate Berlin and Moscow at the present stage is doomed to failure. That Italy will want to reach an [ understanding with Russia on the Balkans, however, is quite plausible. Her relations with Moscow have been fi-iendly for years. Even the Spanish war did not disturb them seriously behind the scenes. But the problem now is whether there is room for both Italy and Russia in the Balkans, and, if so how the spheres of influence can be divided. Till the Russian invasion of Poland, Italy supposed that the whole of the south Balkans Peninsula was her sphere. Great possibilities opened up of a diversion of the Balkan trade from Germany to Italy—the same trade that the Germans took away from the Italians in the Abyssinian war. and more besides. Now Russia wants a share and may well have the lion’s share, particularly should .it prove that a part of her bargain with Germany was a free hand in the Balkans. I