The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. TUESDAY. DECEMBER 21, 1926. A NEW ALLIANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 302, 21 December 1926, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

TUESDAY. DECEMBER 21, 1926. A NEW ALLIANCE.

For the course that locks assistance. For the ttrrong that needs resistance. For the future in the distance, And the good that tee can do.

It i? inijxrriiilile to say precisely what i≤ going on behind the s-t-enes between Germany and Italy just nr>w. But in spite of the veil of mystery in which the recent negotiation? have been enshrouded, certain facts have emerged of a distinctly disquieting character. According to Herr .Streseniann, all that he has done is to arrange an arbitration treaty with !>ignor Mussolini, to provide for the peaceful settlement of all future difficulties. If this be so. it is not very easy to understand why the terms of the agreement have been so carefully concealed, and why the leading Fascist organs openly interpret this readjustment of Italo-German relations as a threat to France and as an indication of a closer "rapprochement" between Italy and the Teutonic States of Central Europe. The position of Germany in regard to these contingencies is clear enough. Since the close of the war Germany, broken and isolated, with Austria, her one faithful follower, reduced to impo- j tenee, has naturally striven to secure for herself au ally who might help to restore the balance of power in her j favour and act as a counterpoise to the j overwhelming weight of France. Ger- ; many's flirtation with Soviet Russia has not been a success, and the only possible alternative is Italy. But at first the natural bitterness between Germany and the Power which broke away from the | Triple Alliance in the great crisis of i 1915 has held them apart: and the truculent attitude assumed by Mussolini in dealing with nationalist problems in the German Tyrol greatly intensified this hostility. But, as time passed, the German and Italian Government seem to have convinced themselves that the two countries have need of each other's assistance. Germany's most immediate object in Central Europe is to secure the right to amalgamate with herself the Teutonic relics of the Hapsburg Empire, On nationalist grounds, there are strong arguments in favour of this policy, and it may fairly be contended that the Allies were guilty of a serious error in judgment when they decided to treat the new Austria as an exception to their general principle of "self-deter-mination/ , and refuse to allow its almost purely Teutonic people to coalesce with their German kinsfolk- It is not likely that such arguments appeal to Mussolini, but no doubt the Fascist dictator realises that it would benefit Italy to come to an amicable understanding with Germany and Austria, and thus to check the constant suspicion and friction that have on several occasions since the war gravely endangered the relations of Italy with the Teutonic States. But no satisfactory attempt can be made to solve this curious problem until we take into account the relations now existing between Italy and France. And here, undoubtedly, we reach the crucial point of the whole situation. In the first place, we must remember that the establishment of Fascism in control of Italy was extremely distasteful to France, and was regarded by French republicans, who form the immense majority of the nation, almost as a challensre to their own democratic sentiments and institutions. Mussolini has always been keenly sensitive to this implied criticism, and no doubt the recent trouble that has arisen between the "Duee" and the Republic in regard to anti-Fascist plots, and the suspicious and dangerous frontier incidents lately chronicled, can be traced to this source. But, apart from this, we must not forget that Italy regards France as a dangerous rival in the field of colonial expansion, more especially in North Africa. Lons before the war the seizure of Tunis by France was fiercely resented by Italy axid this incident, skilfully manipulated by Bismarck, was actually the direct cause of Italy's entry into the Triple Alliance. With the advent of Mussolini all Italy's old nationalist and imperialist ambitions reasserted themselves will renewed vigour, and it is largely because Italy finds herself so completely forestalled by France in Xorth Africs that the two Powers -who, ten years ago fought gallantly side by side, are no-n drifting rapidly apart. History, we ar< told, repeats itself, and just ■as [imperialist jealousies alienated Italj from France forty years ago, and drov ( the Italians into the arms of their tra ditional enemies, the Austrian* ant j Germans, so to-day Italy's demand fo: i; a place in the sun" may mean a revi val of the old Triple Alliance in a ne* and dangerous form. But what th I outcome of these things may be, no mai can yet safely foretell. -„.*.