COMMENT ON BRITAIN’S POLICY

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25608, 24 September 1948, Page 7

COMMENT ON BRITAIN’S POLICY

It would be foolish to minimise the Public disquiet which exists, not only about what is happening in Berlin and the steps which have been taken to contain Russian pressure there, but about the Government’s whole handing of foreign affairs.” says the “Daily Telegraph,” in a leading article. “There is an uneasy feeling that aeon was taken the consequences of were n °t foreseen and provided tno tll e Government has relied on improvisation and taken “ought of where we stand and * here we ar e going. tt is not so much a matter of _netner a settlement can be secured JhaiV5 rei L cy 3r access to Berlin as of nether the Russians mean ultimately if ch a S re ement on Germany, and, C rP relied on to honour it. ” evm can rest assured of his .untrys support any sympathy in anv • Wl th a situation as troubled as will V? ou , r history, but that support f-or - • all the firmer in so far as mStk 15 confidence that the Governat has thought out the consequences of decisions taken to-day; tactics’’ 3S a stra tegy as well as

A Paris message quotes General Sir Brian Robertson, the British Military Governor in Germany, as saying that a reunited Germany was necessary world peace. “If we do not work for this end the Germans rpay resort to means unpleasant to everybody. and history will say that this attempt to rule the country by dividing it into four parts was a very bold experiment which failed.”

General Robertson said that it would be dangerous to let the Germans become frustrated and desperate, because they would seek friends where they could find them.

He thought it would be a mistake to withdraw British, French, and United States troops frem Western Germany until peace had been secured. He added: “Britain treats her security too lightly. Atomic invention has changed the strength of our island fortress. It is not enough that Germany should be weak or to have the great military power of the United States behind us. We must be strong ourselves. Western Europe must be prepared to defend her security, by fighting if necessary. If all the countries of Western Europe are ready to play their part against aggression, then probably aggression will never come.