IS THE .CRISIS OVER?

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 151, 23 March 1938, Page 10

IS THE .CRISIS OVER?

1 According to report, responsible Press opinion in London regards the European crisis as over. This estimate of the situation is certainly reflected in an apparent subsidence of the general excitement.in Europe over the German coup in Austria, and the uneasiness concerning Po.and and Lithuania, and a calmer tone in the news from overseas. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that this relaxing of the tension-is more than a temporary condition. There are a number of very . ficult European and other problems awaiting satisfactory liquidation. The nature and merits of these constitute only one aspect of the situation. More important, a primary consideration in fact, is the method of liquidation. Germany, since the advent of Hitlerism, has adopted on her own initiative the method of the fait accompli as a means of ridding herself o'f the incubus of the Versailles Treaty. She repudiated the ban on coilscription, resumed the military occupation of the Rhineland, and by an arbitrary act forced Austria into the German Reich in the face of the explicit interdict placed by the Treaty on any question of union whatever, voluntarily or otherwise. Italy has followed the same method in dealing with Abyssinia. Poland has used the mailed fist to compel Lithuania to agree to her demands. And r in the Far East, Japan is terrorising China in the hope of securing submission to her terms by organised warfare accompanied by air-bombings which have shocked the civilised world.

Is it to be assumed that all future questions between nations are to be settled in this way? As things are at present, there is no assurance that Powers who have tested and proved the efficacy of the accompli will be persuaded to adopt other methods which past experience may have shown them produce less satisfying results. Unless such tactics are abandoned, and there is no indication that they are likely to be, they must, sooner or later, be challenged, either by an impressive show of force or by actual force. Hence the argument for full military preparedness by the nations supporting the rule of law has complete justification, both as a measure of security and a moral obligation to the civilised world. Though the crisis may have subsided, it still exists.