A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 94, 14 January 1939, Page 7

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

The Ogpu It is reported from Moscow that the Ogpu (secret police) have discovered a nest of spies and wreckers among the lecturers in Moscow’s military and educational establishments. ‘‘A vast lot of nonsense has been written about this organization,” writes John Gunther in “Inside Europe.” “Of course, terror played a considerable role in the evolution of the U.S.S.R., and the Gay-Pay-00, the secret police, was the instrument of terror. Stalin himself has defined its function in no uncertain terms: “‘lt is the punitive organ of the Soviet Government .... It punishes primarily spies, plotters, terrorists, bandits, speculators, forgers. It is something in the nature of a military political tribunal set up for the purpose of protecting the interests Ol the revolution from attacks on the part of counter-revolutionary bourgeois and their agents.’ “Note well that it has powers, not merely to arrest, but as Stalin admits, to punish. It is judge, jury, excutioner, all in one. And it possessed rights and prerogatives within itself like no other Soviet body, and sometimes ‘used them to excess.’ “But on the other hand, the Ogpu is not exclusively a political police. One hears mostly stories of ifs melodramatic activities. It is much more, however, than a force that engages in espionage and shoots traitors. It numbers about 200,000 picked men, and is in a sense a superior cadre of the Red Army; it guards frontiers, patrols railways, and the like. Probably not five per cent, of the entire organization is utilized in secret service. . . . “The Ogpu watches comrades within the party, checking their every thought and gesture, more closely than the ordinary law-abiding citizen outside the party.” <, Friendship With AH

In a speech in Rome, Mr. Neville Chamberlain said: “I come here in pursuit of the policy for which I stand —the policy of friendship with all find enmity with none, a policy directed to a just and peaceful solution of international difficulties by the method of negotiation.” These words may very well have been based on the inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln, given on March 4. 1865. He said: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in. . . . To do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” The Mediterranean

Speaking in Rome, Mr. Neville Chamberlain stressed that Italy’s and Britain’s interests in the Mediterranean were vital to both nations, but they need in no way conflict with one another.

Two years ago Italy and Great Britain siglned a Mediterranean accord whereby they agreed to work in the interests of peace for better relations between them and all Mediterranean Powers ; to recognize freedom of navigation on the sea as of vital interest to both nations; to disclaim any desire to modify present territorial sovereignty in the Mediterraneanand to affirm that the pact “is not directed against any other Power.”

This was ngain confirmed by an agreement made between Great Britain and Italy last April, an agreement that was not to come into effect till a settlement of the Spanish trouble, the Italians to withdraw their troops from Spain. Mr. Chamberlain, however, has seen fit to bring the agreement into operation without the fulfilment of the condition of withdrawal.

Italy’s claim to greatness in the Mediterranean is of recent growth. Great Britain had held naval supremacy in the Mediterranean for a long time. The cutting of the Suez Canal made that sea a main artery of the Empire. With Gibraltar and Aden firmly in British hands, with Malta as a midway fortress and with Suez protected by the control of Egypt, the British route was assured. It was further strengthened at the beginning of the present century by a firm understanding with France. After the Great War, the partition of the Turkish Empire and the withdrawal of Russia from the Mediterranean scene left Great Britain in undisputed possession.

Germany, who in the.years' preceding the Great War had become a serious menace to British Mediterranean interests, was forcibly ejected—one of the major gains . from the war. Italy’s 'designs for power in the Mediterranean, if not supremacy, were seen when, in 1925, she demanded naval parity with France. France refused to concede it. Italy went about creating that parity. With the conquest of Abyssinia in 1935 she had arrived. From then till now Signor Mussolini has proceeded on the assumption that the Mediterranean is to be the Italian sea, an Italian domain. He wants Italy, first of all, to dominate the eastern part of the Mediterranean and the route to Abyssinia. Wei-Hai-Wei

The Chinese in Shantung are reported to have reached the outskirts of Wei-Hai-Wei, as a result of which the Japanese have appealed for naval reinforcements.

On July 1, 1898, the territory and port of Wei-Hai-Wei were leased to Great Britain by the Manchu Government for “so long a period as Port Arthur shall remain in the occupation of Russia.” At the Washington Conference, 192122, Great Britain undertook, under certain conditions, to restore Wei-Hai-Wei to China-. The restoration took place on October 1, 1930.

Wei-Hai-Wei is situated on the north eastern peninsular portion of the Chinese province of Shantung. It consists of the island of Liukung, a few uninhabited islets, ami an extensive mainland territory, the whole comprising an area of 285 square miles.

Wei-Hai-Wei was a fortified port before the outbreak of Hie China-Japan War of 1894-5. The forts which had been constructed not long before by German engineers failed to save Wei-Hai-Wei from falling into Hie hands of the Japanese during that war, and a large part of the Chinese fleet based there was captured or sunk.

Agriculture, fishing and obtaining salt by evaporation are the chief industries of the people of the district. In the present struggle with China •Japan occupied Wei-Hal-Wei peacefully in March. 11)38. and promised to respect British rights.