The Waikato Times. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1939 RUSSIA’S PART IN WAR

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20915, 21 September 1939, Page 6

The Waikato Times. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1939 RUSSIA’S PART IN WAR

After considering Russia's action in Poland, Britain has announced that nothing that has occurred can make any difference to Britain's determination to fulfil her obligations to Poland and prosecute the war with all her energy until her object is achieved. A breach of diplomatic relations with Russia or a declaration of war is regarded in informed quarters as extremely unlikely, “since it is understood Russia believed she was serving her own vital interests by the invasion." The British official view is, however, that “the attack on Britain’s ally at the moment when Poland was prostrate in the face of overwhelming forces launched against her by Germany cannot be justified by the arguments put forward by the Soviet." The reasons that prompted the Russian action are as obscure as the whole Soviet foreign policy. Close observers of the situation have made several deductions which, though they may consist largely of suppositions, at least contain the elements of logic. In view of the long campaign of mutual hatred between the Nazis and the Soviet it is assumed that the pact is merely an arrangement of convenience and that in reality each dictator still fears and distrusts the other. It is suggested that Russia invaded Poland because she was alarmed at the extent of the German advance and the prospect of having a Nazi neighbour on her borders. Hence she determined to meet Germany half-way across Poland, and Germany, fearing the consequences of contrary action, made pretence of approving the Soviet's invasion.

It is well known that Herr Hitler has long coveted Ukrainia and that he would not lightly agree to the territory passing back for all time into the control of Russia. Riches of agriculture and minerals lie in the Ukrainian territory, and possession of them would have been of vital importance to Germany. Is the yielding of his Ukrainian ambitions one of the penalties Herr Hitler has agreed to pay in return for Russia's participation in the pact of non-aggression, or did he hope that Russia would stand by inactive while Germany absorbed the whole of the Polish territory into the Greater Reich ? Probably British opinion has these facts in view when it “understands that Russia believed she was serving her own vital interests by the invasion." There is still reason to believe that Russia will have completed her active part in the war, at least in the west, when she has completed the protection of her own interests against Germany in Poland. But that, according to the statement of the British Government, does not alter the fact that Britain objects to the Soviet invasion and aims to restore Polish sovereignty completely. If the Nazi regime is smashed and that part of Poland which has been conquered by Germany is returned to the Poles, what will then be the position between Britain and Russia i Will Russia be willing to honour its pledge of non-aggression and hand back control of Ukrainia and other eastern Polish territory to Poland ? That will provide the real test of the Soviet’s motives in undertaking the present invasion. Is she saving eastern Poland from Germany for herself or for the Poles ? Or does she wholly condemn the fixation of the Polish boundaries after the Great War and take this opportunity to adjust them 1