Evening Post MONDAY, DECEMBER, 23, 1940. AXIS BLACKMAIL

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 151, 23 December 1940, Page 6

Evening Post MONDAY, DECEMBER, 23, 1940. AXIS BLACKMAIL

A high point in Hitlerian hypocrisy is the profound respect which the Nazis have for legalism where the attitude of the United States to Britain is concerned, and— where the relations of Berlin and Vichy are concerned—the utter contempt with which Germany's legal obligations are treated. The Ger-man-French armistice—of doubtful I legality in itself—does not prevent! Hitler from annexing Lorraine. But international law—which Hitler has already smashed into splinters— must prevent the United States from, transferring certain merchant ships • to Britain, or else (the Nazi spokes- j man threatens) Hitler will ask the reason why. Taking as a text a reported remark by the British Minister of Shipping, Mr. Cross—"l am naturally eager" for enemy merchant ships in America—the spokesman of the German Foreign Office dares the United States Government to sanction such an unlawful proceeding as transferring Axis ships to Britain. But if the Nazis can secure the French navy by putting pressure on the French Premier-—even kidnapping him—that will be a proceeding perfectly lawful and admirable. Has the hypocrisy of lawbreakers ever attained a higher plane of cynicism than this? The armistice was forced on France by military pressure. An agreement, the constitutional status of which is doubtful, may yet be legally adhered to; but the Nazis, in Lorraine, have not adhered to it. They have not even adhered to that "appearance of international correctness" which the German Foreign Office spokesman reproachfully attributes to the United States. Many actions that Hitler and Mussolini have undertaken without a blush— including many infringements of international law —show that Hitler will not hesitate a moment to march German soldiers across unoccupied France, if he has not already done so, as some reports state. Not legalism, but expediency, is the deterrent of such Nazi action, if deterrent there be. And the French fleet would be in Hitler's hand tomorrow morning, if legalism alone protected it. Yet the spokesman of the German Foreign Office still preaches "international law" and "international correctness," and the Tokio chorus links up, threatening the United States Government with application of the Berlin-Rome-Tokio Pact—which means a BerlinTokio combined effort to frighten America off her aid-to-Britain policy, under threat of war. There could be no objection to such a "diplomatic offensive" by Berlin and Tokio (with Rome mumbling acquiescence) if it was carried out as part of the business of war and not under hypocritical colours. Its real name — also its real purpose —is international blackmail. America, of course, will refuse to be blackmailed—the "New York Times" describes Mr. Matsuoka's warning speech as impudent —and the British Empire will not stop hammering Italy and at the same time perfecting Singapore and Malayan defences. Today's radio contains reminders that the Straits Settlement region—which has great defensive power, naval and aerial — and the Netherlands East Indies— which have not only defences but oil —are in co-operation, and that "Britain's Far Eastern territories, which now have their own com-mander-in-chief, are fully prepared to defend themselves." Rome commentary has descended from the Olympian heights at which the combined Italian and Japanese fleets were pictured as sweeping the Indian Ocean; the cry now is that 4 Japan can' become such a nuisance to Britain that she will throw away "her desert victory" and will be forced to "abandon her desperate struggle against Italy, in which her main forces are engaged." It soothes Italian pride to think that all the

British Empire is concentrated against Italy, and it feeds Italian hope to believe that, when Hitler pulls a Tokio string, America will fade away and British forces will be magnetised from the Mediterranean to the Orient. But, meanwhile, the Italian defeats in Albania and in Libya intensify. So far the British Government itself is not involved in the question of utilising enemy ships in America, except to the extent of a remark attributed to a Minister, Mr. Cross. But the Axis blackmail of America will help Mr. Cross far better than anything that could be said in England. It is also a fact that nothing said in England can at present do much for the dangerous situation in France, where Nazi pressures on the veteran Premier, Marshal Petain, continue to increase. There must be a "show-down," but when? If Hitler finally smashes his armistice, the Allied cause will suffer militarily, but the cause of Free France will be more than justified.