NEW BUFFER STATE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 January 1940, Page 6

NEW BUFFER STATE

PROSPECTS OF LITHUANIA. The prospects of Lithuania as a Russian protectorate are discussed by ,Mr F. A. Voigt, in a recent article in the “Listener.” Lithuania, he says, is in a rather different position from that occupied by the other Baltic States. She may be useful as a buffer State, for there is no fear of her being too strong She could not be dangerous to Germany or to Russia, for the Lithuanians number well under 3,000,000. whereas there are more than 20,000,000 Poles. Even when the Poles have lost their independence, they have been considered dangerous by Germany and Russia, for they are not only numerous, but have extraordinary courage, as well as a genius for conspiracies and armed risings. To suppress Polish risings, large-scale military . operations have been necessary—Russia has always quelled Polish insurrections with the approval, of Prussia. It is therefore useful, from the Russian and German point of view, to have a counterweight even to a prostrate Polish nation. A Lithuanian State, enlarged by Vilna. a city with a mixed population, in which Poles outnumber each of the other nationalities, would not count for much against an independent Poland, but will be a useful counterweight against the Poles now that they are down.