Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1936. TENSION IN EUROPE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 108, 18 February 1936, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1936. TENSION IN EUROPE.

Apart altogether from the dangers that beset the peace of Europe in consequence of the Abyssinian war, the trend of international affairs continues to cause anxiety. The situation is, at least outwardly, more delicate than it was on the outbreak of the Great War. That disaster burst upon a world comparatively calm; there were signs and portents, a few grave warnings, but no widespread fear. To-day the tension is extreme; the very atmosphere of councils of diplomacy, to say nothing of popular feeling in some countries, is explosive. Italy’s conflict with Abyssinia forms the more immediate menace to peace, but an even greater, if not actually present, danger has its source in Germany’s attitude. Even if there is over-statement in the assertion in France that she is preparing day and night for war, her foreign policy is distinctly provocative. From the point of view of Britain, most concern attaches to the problem of the Rhineland zone, but as a matter of fact Germany’s eastern neighbours are as apprehensive as those on the west. Poland lies in her path of eastward expansion but by political flattery and economic inducements, she concluded a ten years’ pact with Poland and seriously weakened the latter s attachment to France. Like Germany, Poland has eastern aspirations, involving deeper bites into Lithuania and the Ukraine. Finally, the autocratic temper and methods of the German and Polish leaders make rapprochement a natural process. As a counter-move, the Baltic States are even prepared to look to Russia, their former oppressor, for support. Austria looks to Italy, the old enemy, and France for guarantees. Czechoslovakia feels around and increases her armed forces. The Balkan States are watchful. Even Russia is fearfully busy with pacts of non-aggression and declarations of peaceful intentions. France, of course, has no illusions. German expansion to the east must make her more formidable in the west. In any case, France has financial and military interests in most of the Eastern European States. The Nazi attack on the Locarno Treaties adds to the menace, destroying the measure of confidence and harmony they created. Their destruction would bring into being new risks of disorder. France, Holland, Belgium, and therefore Czechoslovakia and Poland would be thrown back to a feverish fear worse than they have yet known, and the probability of German acquisition of the Polish Corridor in return for help to win Russian territory for Poland would spread conflict eastward, while Austria would become again a friction-point for all south-eastern Europe. The Berlin press voices astonishment at Britain s quiet acceptance of the Franco-Soviet Treaty, but Germany herself has been responsible for the tendency to replace reliance in the League as a factor for peace by the old method of alliances. The League has proved a valuable aid in preserving peace, but it can be effective only so far as the nations of the world accept its decisions in any dispute. In the absence of any means of enforcing the policy of the League any one of the Powers can render the whole system of no avail. It is this consideration that has prompted the-Bri-tish Government —which has adhered loyally to the League, hoping against hope that it would prove capable ot fulfilling its highest objective, and which" is still anxious to bring about reduction of armaments —to undertake the placing of the defences of the country on a footing that will render it more secure.