PACIFIC STRATEGY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 August 1943, Page 3

PACIFIC STRATEGY

SPECULATION IN LONDON j & UNITED STATES. NEED OF GOOD UNDERSTANDING WITH RUSSIA. NEW YORK, August 12. “According to the best opinion in London, the latest meeting of Messrs. Churchill and Roosevelt will be regarded in future as the ‘Pacific Conference,,” says the “New York Times” correspondent in London. “That does not mean that the problems of the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and Europe will not be discussed, but whereas in the past the Pacific has been relegated of necessity to the remote future, this time the problems of the strategic means of defeating Japan will have a highei - place on the agenda than ever before.”

The Washington correspondent of the “New York Times” says that after the meeting of the Pacific War Council the spokesman said that the discussions had been entirely devoted to future military strategy. The correspondent adds that hopeful officials in Washington are looking for an early end to the war. They speculated that the meeting of Messrs. Churchill and Roosevelt would result in the final decision for a blow that might knock out the European Axis. “The number and importance of service chiefs accompanying Mr Churchill indicate that the talks will not be entirely political,” says the “New York Times” ,in an editorial, “but it is obvious that the Prime Minister and the President must address themselves primarily to political problems, which have been made importunate not only by the course of the war and by the lack of understanding among people, but also by the failure of inter-Allied diplomacy to agree on the questions confronting us. That is why Russia’s absence is particularly unfortunate. "Without Russia’s participation the final answers cannot be given.” Mr Hanson Baldwin, commenting on Russia’s absence, says in the “New York Times:” The Soviet is clearly suspicious about the British and American intentions. Conversely, there is a growing suspicion in America of Russia's motive. Hitler hopes to turn those suspicions into a serious cleavage, but even if Hitler’s hopes are dashed there is a grave danger of the great game of power politics becoming the sole rule for Europe before the war ends, unless a better understanding is reached with Russia.”