THE DEFINITION OF WAR AIMS.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 November 1939, Page 4

THE DEFINITION OF WAR AIMS.

GENUINE difficulty was dealt with frankly and fairly by Lord Halifax in the House of Lords when he replied to a suggestion by Viscount. Cecil that, there should be an extended presentation of the Allied war aims—a suggestion which has been pressed also by leading members of the Labour Party in the House of Commons. The Foreign Secretary said he thought all recognised both the difficulty ol detailing war aims and also the broad purposes of Hie Allies. That, no doubt, is a perfectly reasonable claim. The broad purposes of the Allies could hardly be defined more plainly than they are. Britain and France, alter making extreme efforts to preserve peace, have gone to war in order to end aggression in Europe and to re-establish international confidence hud good faith.. The sincerity of the Allies in pursuing these anus has been questioned only by interested parties, particularly Germany and Russia —nations which desire to be left in undisturbed possession of the fruits ol aggression. (In the other hand, it is recognised over a great part ol the world that the cause the Allies have taken up is that ol free humanity.

The broad aims of the Allies no doubt must be to ensure that the wrongs that have been done in the dismemberment, of Poland and Czechoslovakia shall in the greatest extent possible be righted and Io establish conditions in which peace and the rights of individual nations will alike be safeguarded. As to the route by which the Allies are to approach their plainly-defined goal, however, there are some open possibilities. Britain, for example, has declared in plain terms that an assurance from the present German Government is not enough and Lord Halifax, in his latest statement,, quoted an earlier utterance by Mr Chamberlain that, il the German Government was prepared to make a real effort to repair the confidence it. had destroyed, it was “for them and not for us to consider how that ean be done.’’

No doubt tlm way to peace would best lie opened if Hie Nazi dictatorship were overthrown and replaced by a Government in which it would be reasonable Io repose confidence. If. however, the German people are incapable of coni ribiil jug' in this wav to their own redemplion and that of humanity, uuaranlees of an extremely positive kind evidently would be needed to make any suggested underlaking by the present German Government worthy of consideration.

It is a part only of the total problem raised that there are highly important questions internal to Germany Io be determined before lhe Allies can reasonably be asked io state precisely and in detail the conditions on which they are prepared to make peace. Another and not less important part of lhe problem concerns Russia. M. .Molotov had the assurance lhe other day to accuse Britain of engaging in aggression, but Hie actual position is that the Soviet Ims assisted German aggression against Poland and at the same time has entered upon a policy of aggressive expansion which carries a visible menace Io Germany and Io other European nations. Ft may be taken for granted that lhe Allies will maintain inflexibly the stand they have taken against aggression am! international brigandage. They are pursuing aims that are quite clearly, if broadly defined and these aims are fully appreciated, as Mr Chamberlain has said, by a great . ' o ~itv id’ lhe na' ; ' '.of Hie world. In a meas'.’re ■" must "w ' «nt'-