SOVIET AIMS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 November 1943, Page 4

SOVIET AIMS

POSSIBLE POSTWAR DEMANDS MAY INCLUDE OUTLET TO ATLANTIC AN AMERICAN SURVEY Soviet Russia’s policy in the . postwar readjustment of "Europe will be guided by long-term desires for removal of the German threat and unhampered outlet to the Atlantic, a Washington correspondent of the “Christian Science Monitor” wrote recently, but these demands do not necessarily foretell a clash, the Foreign Policy Association declares. A survey of the role the Soviet Union may be expected to play reached these two conclusions:

1. That' “while the Russians will participate side by side with Britain and the United States and the conquered peonies of Europe in the final Battle of Germany,” there is little evidence as yet to indicate that Russia would want to dominate Europe through the familiar methods of territorial control. 2. That “it seems improbable that Russia would seek, after the war, additional territory for the sake of obtaining more people or larger resources.”

QUESTION AT STAKE

This prediction, made by Mrs Vera Micheles Dean, Research Director of the Association, was made subject to three important qualifications: The satisfactory settlement of Russia’s western border; the possible spread of communism after the war, with or without Russian support; and the safeguards that the United Nations, acting in concert, may find it possible to erect against the resurgency of Germany.

“There is no doubt,” Mrs Dean stated, “that the Soviet Government, in the event of victory, will insist on obtaining for Russia as many prerequisites of a great, power as possible, and among the-prerequisites Russia has lacked throughout its history has been direct access to the Atlantic. But here, again, the exact form of Soviet demands, and the method of carrying them out, will be affected in the long run by the attitude of the other Powers associated with Russia in World War 11, and by their readiness to collaborate in the reconstruction of Europe. “If the other Powers are ready to assure Russia unhampered access to the Atlantic through the Baltic and the Mediterranean, the Soviet Government might find this sufficient and not feel the need for some form of dominance over the territories of countries adjoining the Baltic and the Black Sea.” As for Eastern Europe, the survey said, “even granted the best will in the world on all sides, territorial adjustments after the war. will be fraught with innumerable complications. It would seem that the best hope of the small nations of Eastern Europe and the Balkans lies in continued close collaboration with Britain, the United States, and Russia, which might prevent the rise of a new militant Germany, yet assure the small nations that their destiny will not be decided solely by a victorious Russia. QUALIFICATIONS LISTED “The real question at stake is not whether the great Powers will intervene in smaller countries —this can be taken for granted —but whether they will use their influence with some sense of responsibility toward those countries. If Russia’s relations with its weaker neighbours should be guided in the future by concern for their welfare, and that of the world community as a whole —not merely by the interests of the U.S.S.R. post-war reconstruction could be advanced rather than retarded. Russia’s own attitude, however, will depend to a considerable extent on the degree and nature of intervention that other Powers —notably Germany—may attempt in the affairs of the border states. “In developing its foreign policy, the Soviet Government need not necessarily or inevitably collide with Britain and the United States, much as its political and economic system differs from that of the Western Powers. Britain, Russia and the United States, provided none of them returns to a policy of isolation after the war, can all play an important and constructive part in the post-war recovery of Europe. But none of them can hope to impose its policy on a continent many of whose peoples have been nurtured in a long tradition of freedom and who, whether they ■ build democracy or socialism, may be : expected to build it to suit their own special needs and peculiar traditions.”