PLANNING FOR PEACE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 304, 23 December 1940, Page 6

PLANNING FOR PEACE.

F.M. nccu«e«= me of "olijwtinjr to the discussion of peace aims at the present time." Not in any of my letters on "Planning For Peace"' have I written one sentence of objection to tie discussion of peace aims; on the contrarv, I have said millions are doing-ihat notr." What I have decried is the proposal to make a plan now for the post-war settlement of the terrorised nation* of Europe, without even asking them for lheir opinions on the provisions contained in it, "_\n enduring pgace" sound* fine. So does a Commonwealth of European Nations. More than 30 of them, with their many tonguee, foreicn minorities, different culture*, irreconei] able religions, dual claim to identical territories, fierce racial hatred*, centuriee old—and more recent and more vile—wrongs to be avenped; some torn nearly aeuuder by the clash of nlmon insolvnble internal problems—ae in Ireland, France and Spain. There b> about as much prospect of the pacific tion of tbcee nations in the near future as there is of persuading all the beac:of the jimple to lie down and sleep peacefully in one lair. When ifaei etande triumphant over wrong*, and thlesson has been impressed once more on the pure hut predatory Aryan, and hiis humbled a* the duet, and hi* nation torn into as many piece* as * puule, the time may be opportow for the countrie* of the f w them, alone—to decide whether Her shall, or shall not, form themadm into a United State* of Europe. If tk eT decide in favour, any who take tiuit for the beginning of an endurinp peace will be disapiwinted. JMM,