IN A VICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 233, 1 October 1940, Page 7

IN A VICE.

SOVIET EMPIRE. British Journalist's Comment On Alliance. British Official Wireless. RUGBY, Sept. 30. (1 "To belittle the significance of the new triple alliance would be the c ] absurdity of ostrichism," writes Mr. w J. L. Garvin in the "Observer," commenting on the Axis Powers' pact with Japan. "Its mischief for the a time may soon become equal to its J ambition. n "It is a challenge to another world v war, embracing all continents more b completely than the last. Yet when we look to tiie end, this grandiose treaty is like a flamboyant prospectus of a new suicide club. This 'document of historical importance,' as Ribbentrop calls it, is as directly anti-American as anti-British. At the .same time, it is a covertly anti-Russian. To grip the n Soviet 'Empire in a vice as a means of s holding it to good behaviour from the V Near East to the Far East is a chief object—an objcct transparently veiled. f "Tlie new order referred to in the r agreement." observes Mr. Garvin, "is ] another name for the old business of t despotism, force, conquest and ex- j ploitation." \ The "Sunday Times" says: "The f alliance is of course primarily aimed at c America. Japan hopes it will deter Mr. 1 Roosevelt from action in the Pacific, and 1 Germany and Italy hope that it will ( prevent* him from coming to the aid of i Britain. "It is not the least likely to be influential cither way, and does not represent any substantial change in the pre-existing situation. Japan is fully occupied with the China war and cannot expect help on her side of the world from the European dictators, nor can Germany and Italy look for aid from Japan. America will not be frightened bv Hitler's redressing of his war facade."