Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1940. AXIS DIPLOMACY AND THREATS.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 November 1940, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1940. AXIS DIPLOMACY AND THREATS.

AT a direct view, the news that Hungary has joined the AxisV Japanese pact and that the event is being held up by the Nazis as of diplomatic moment is merely farcical. It is well enough known that Hungary’s part under the Nazi regime is that of an entirely helpless vassal, bound to obey whatever instructions, and to accept whatever treatment her taskmasters like to give her. Her adhesion to the pact is not an. accession of strength, because she was already as completely as she could be at the disposal and mercy of the Axis. Any hope she has 0.l being able again to call her soul her own is contingent, on the defeat and overthrow of the predatory combination by which she has now been accepted ostensibly as an ally. No doubt it is open to the Axis to gather in further allies in similar conditions. Rumania has lost every vestige of independence, and Bulgaria, with Russia pursuing a passive policy, may also be constrained to enter the Axis fold. It is by no means certain that Yugoslavia is in any better ease. It may be hoped, however, that an atmosphere of make-believe will, change to one of reality when it comes to dealing with Turkey, against whom the Nazis have opened a war of nerves. Far-reaching plans of Mediterranean aggression tributed 1o Hitler by the Berne correspondent of the “New York Times,” in a message quoted in one of yesterday’s cablegrams. Hitler’s plans (the correspondent stated) include the conquest of Syria, in the early spring. He intends soon to pass through Bulgaria, regarding which he recently conferred with M. Molotov, and then to split the British forces in the Mediterranean by marching across Spain and seizing Gibraltar. It was added that the correspondent “expects -official confirmation at any minute of the fact that three to five German divisions are in Bulgaria and heading for Greece.” While the last-quoted suggestion is not without an air of probability, these predictions in their total effect take a tremendous amount for granted. They appear to imply that Turkey can either be reduced to inactivity or can be overcome with ease, but there is in fact every reason to believe that Turkey, with the powerful backing and support that Britain can give her, is to be depended upon to offer a stout and determined resistance to any attack that Germany may launch. So far as the Western Mediterranean is concerned, too, it is ohm thing for the Nazis to talk of seizing Gibraltar and another thing to accomplish that feat. [f may very possibly be true, however, that the Nazi dictatorship is preparing for an early extension of aggression in both the eastern and western Mediterranean regions. Italy rather obviously stands in need of powerful support and the Nazis no doubt would like very much indeed to deprive Britain of her present uncontested command of the western gateway of the Mediterranean, guarded by Gibraltar. An American correspondent, writing at the end of October, stated that:— According to Spanish military information, approximately 200 British ships have cleared Gibraltar under convoy to and from the Eastern Mediterranean in the past month. These included some of the largest ships afloat .carrying reinforcements and supplies to Egypt. The question is how long will military logic permit the Axis to lay siege to the Mediterranean while leaving its front door wide open. The participation of the Spanish Foreign Minister, Senor Suner, in recent Axis meetings might in itself be taken to mean that the question of Spain linking np with the Axis is again to the fore. There is no reason to doubt that the Spanish dictator, General Franco, is genuinely desirous of holding aloof. As an outcome of her civil war, Spain is in a state 01. exhaustion and of almost ruinous economic disorganisation, and she is wholly dependent on British goodwill for imports of foodstuffs and other vital supplies. That an overwhelming proportion of the people of Spain would prefer to remain neutral is not in doubt, but the essential question raised is whether General Franco and his Government can hope, any more than the small States the Nazis are now dragooning and coercing in South-Eastern Europe, to resist the Axis pressure impelling them to enter the war.