RUSSIA “NOT AT WAR”

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20988, 15 December 1939, Page 6

RUSSIA “NOT AT WAR”

After all the excitement and protests by nations whose sympathy has been aroused by the plight of Finland, and after the convocation of the League of Nations, it seems that all have been barking up the wrong tree, for Russia simply is not at war with Finland. Molotoff has solemnly assured the League that that is so; therefore the League has no reason to intervene on behalf of Finland. Russia is merely attempting to quieten a few outlaws in Finland who refuse to accept the new Government which Russia has so kindly provided for the Finns. The “real” Government of Finland is apparently willing to welcome the Russians with open arms and concede to them all the territorial claims of the Soviet. It almost seams that the League and the world should apologise to the Soviet and quietly withdraw. Is it possible that the Soviet can be so unutterably stupid as to expect the world to believe such a childisn story ? If the new puppet “Government” set up by the Soviet has any influence or any sympathy in Finland, why are the Finns offering such magnificent resistance to the invaders, and why are the Russians massing over a million men in an attempt to crush the defenders ? And why is the blood of thousands of Finns and Russians being spilled if the two countries are not at war ? The Soviet is apparently trying to impress the outside world with the story it has told to the unsuspecting Russian people—the story, evidently believed, that is preventing the common Russians upsetting Stalin’s plans. Molotoff has, in fact, exposed the state of misunderstanding that exists within Russia. Stalin has gained the support of his own people for the attack on Finland on the pretext that the Finnish people are hankering for Communism and rule by the Soviet. Have they not their own Soviet Government on the lines approved by all Russians ? Why should the small reactionary element in Finland be permitted to wreck this obviously wanted Sovietisation of the country ? Clearly, Soviet propaganda has made it a case where the aid of the Russian people is needed by the Finnish Soviet. What the world knows, but what the Russian people do not know, is that the Finnish Soviet Government consists of a few traitorous Communists under the influence of Stalin. Hence Stalin’s excuse may sound plausible to his own people but ludicrous to the League of Nations.