Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY. FEBRUARY 5. 1940. THE POSITION OF NEUTRALS,

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 February 1940, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY. FEBRUARY 5. 1940. THE POSITION OF NEUTRALS,

TODAY fear of invasion haunts every little country within reach of the twin menaces to world peace and progress, Nazism and Bolshevism. Upon Finland the blow lias already fallen. She refused to purchase immunity from attack with the substance, of her independence, and with head bloody but unbowed she continues to confront her giant assailant. Whose turn will it be next to take up arms against, the murder gangs Germany and Russia? The Scindinavians tremulously ponder the question, while the Dutch and Belgians look anxious!) to their defences. The Balkans are an armed camp, and Rumania watches apprehensively the gathering ol Russian forces in the southernmost provinces of Soviet Poland. That the four principal Balkan Powers are determined to stand shoulder to shoulder in the present crisis is emphasised by a cable from Belgrade, published in onr news columns today.

In a statement on Saturday to the press in Belgrade on the conference of the Balkan Entente, the Rumanian envoy. Di Gafencu, declared: “The conference has established the unity of our viewpoint on the questions at issue. It is possible for us to collaborate fully, and the collaboration remains open with other States within the bounds of our national independence.' The Turkish envoy, M. Saracoglu, said: "The determination of our countries to stand by each other need not be emphasised. I am happy to say that the conference will show the best results and reaffirm the unity of the four Powers (Turkey. Rumania. Yugoslavia and Greece) from every point of view." The Yugoslavian envoy, M. Markovich, said: "There exists a definite friendship of the four delegates which is quite unbreakable.”

.Mr Winston Churchill has dared to speculate, perhaps with rather more candour than discretion, concerning what would happen if all the threatened neutrals, from the Circle to the Danube Basin, instead of running the risk of being devoured separately, were to throw in their lot with the Allies in the fight, against aggression and wrong. Those small neutral Powers within striking distance ol Germany know well enough what would happen. They would- be instantly attacked and probably overrun bv overwhelming numbers belore Allied help could reach them. That fate may befall them in any case, one by one, if invasion should suit the Nazi book. No weak people, however, can be expected Io precipitate the risk ol conquest while the faintest hope of escaping involvement remains. Sell preservation being the first law ol nature, the neutrals preler to hold aloof as long as they possibly can. It must bo recognised that it provides small consolation to menaced neutrals to be told that their intervention would shorten the war. or to reflect that their independence would be restored and guaranteed by an Aillied victory. Yet their sympathies, their hopes and their destinies are largely bound up with the Allied cause.

If has been said in certain quarters that small nations owe a duty to the League of Nations Io intervene in the war. Tin 1 League of Nations has not proved so efficacious a guarantor of the liberties of small nations that its name can be invoked, in the midst of a European war. Io summon the seallered little nations to arms against aggression. Sell-interest, not less than fellow-feeling, may ..well impel the Scandinavian countries especially to render generous aid to the Linns, Nor the rest, the neutrals themselves must be the best judges of where their fluty lies. Whether they care Io admit it or not, they live or die as free peoples with the victory or deleal ol the Allies. There is not one of them but would exist on sufferance, if it existed independently al all. in the event ol a Nazi triumph. Evon now when they are at peace with Germajiy the Nazis are sinking their ships without warning, committing murder in the most bridal form, or .massing troops on their borders. The Hun today is the same as he was when Attila, despoiled Europe over fourteen hundred years ago,